


It Couldn't Hurt To Ask

by tonia_barone



Series: It Couldn't Hurt To Ask [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Bisexual Barry Allen, But not much more than is in the show, Confrontations, Emotional Manipulation, Eobard being creepy, Eobard has a heart, Eobard's Way is the Right Way, Episode: s01e09 The Man In The Yellow Suit, Episode: s01e11 The Sound and the Fury, Episode: s01e12 Crazy For You, Episode: s01e13 The Nuclear Man, Episode: s01e14 Fallout, Episode: s01e15 Out of Time, Episode: s01e16 Rogue Time, Episode: s01e17 Tricksters, Episode: s02e17 Flash Back, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Minor Character Death, Plans For The Future, Pre-Slash, Semi-graphic violence, Slow Burn, Special Guest Villain - Freeform, Team as Family, Time Travel, What-If, eowells - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 02:46:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 47
Words: 56,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11095278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonia_barone/pseuds/tonia_barone
Summary: Eo's point of view through the Flash, after he comes to a revelation that changes things forever





	1. The Man in the Yellow Suit Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to thank [Hiver_Frost_Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiver_Frost_Elf) for looking over this and making sure I sound a lot more coherent than I actual am. They're also the reason this has turned into such a beast. I feel it's safe to say this fic wouldn't be what it is today with their constant support and being able to bounce ideas off them.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard reflects on his plans for the Flash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started to write one thing and got this instead. Eobard just wouldn't leave me alone. He's stubborn like that. This basically comes from the thought of "What if Eobard had asked for help" instead of...well, what we got in Season 1.

Eobard considered his options as he stared at the familiar newspaper headline.  The Flash’s training was going well, everything was on course.  Except.  Except that something had happened that Eobard hadn’t accounted for.  Something so far in the realm of unbelievable that he never even entertained the thought, so he never made a contingency plan for its occurrence.

Eobard Thawne had fallen in love with Barry Allen.

Not a romantic love, no of course not, but he was in love all the same.  Barry, Cisco, even Caitlin were like children to him.  His children.  Children he wanted the best for, for them to be taken care of, and to be healthy and whole.  Eobard cared for these children, loved them as his own.  He felt it every time he helped Barry discover a new facet of his speed; every time Cisco invented something new; every time Caitlin took a step further from her shell of frigidity.  

Oh, how the universe must be laughing at him.

Eobard has spent the last two months watching these three grow closer to one another while he, as their mentor, has tried to remain aloof; to remain apart from their celebrations of joy over a hard won victory.  The children don’t allow it, of course.  Particularly Barry.  Any time that Eobard tries to keep a distance between them, Barry drags him back in with his warm smiles and caring attitude.  Cisco and Caitlin, being his employees, are used to a certain level of removal between them.  Barry, however, pushes past that invisible barrier each and every time.

As Eobard stared at that headline, he couldn’t help but think that his nemesis, the future Flash, must find this all terribly ironic.  Nothing about this had gone right from day one.  Eobard’s admiration for the Flash led to him harnessing the Speed Force, becoming a speedster, so that he could meet his idol.  Traveling back in time, however, nothing went right and soon the Flash and he, his Reverse, were adversaries in a heated conflict.  Eobard learned the Flash’s identity by accident; an opportunistic walk past a café where future Barry Allen and his wife, Iris West-Allen, were having lunch. 

From there, Eobard hatched his plan to kill Barry Allen as a child, but of course the Flash followed him.  So while the Flash was saving his younger self, Eobard allowed his frustrations to get the better of him, and in a fit of pique he murdered Nora Allen.  Satisfied that Barry Allen would be too broken to become the Flash, Eobard set out to go home.  Only he couldn’t.  He was trapped in the year 2000, 195 years into his past.  For Eobard to get home, he would need to recreate the Flash.  So that’s what Eobard had done.  He spent the next 15 years developing the Particle Accelerator while keeping a very close eye on Barry Allen as he grew up. 

It was nothing to manipulate events to work in his favor.  If he was a genius in his time, here in this backwater Eobard might as well be a god.  He was lightyears ahead of everyone in terms of brain power, though he would admit that Hartley Rathaway was as close as someone in this time could come to him.  That might be why it was that Hartley was the one to discover the intentional flaw in the design.  Eobard gave the kid credit: Hartley did everything right.  He brought the flaw to his supervisor’s attention, expecting praise and quick work to fix it.  Instead, he got derision, skepticism, and lost his job.  A part of Eobard regretted that moment.  Hartley had great promise.

For once, Eobard wasn’t sure where to go from here.  He needed Tina’s tachyon device if he was going to get home without Barry.  He’d already, stupidly, intimidated Joe to get him to back off; the detective was good at his job and already too close to figuring out the truth.  If Eobard came forward now, it’d be to suspicion and anger.  “Hell, they’ll be angry with me regardless.”  That’s what you felt toward your mother’s murderer, after all. 

Then again, Barry had a big heart.  Maybe if he approached him as his Reverse, maybe he’d listen?  He wouldn’t have to reveal who he was, but he could still explain.  He just needed to get Barry alone.  The football stadium at CCU would be dramatic enough neutral ground; guaranteed privacy, little chance of interruption.  If that went well, then maybe, _maybe_ Eobard would reveal his secret.  It couldn’t hurt, yet.  To ask for help getting home, instead of continuing to follow the convoluted plan he came up with fifteen years ago.

Yes, that would be what he’d do.  Approach Barry as his Reverse, explain what he could without revealing who he was, see how that went.  If it went favorably, _perhaps_ Eobard would tell the rest of it.  Once he was certain that it wouldn’t bite him in the ass.  Maybe, just maybe, this Barry Allen was different from his future self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if I'll continue this or not. It works by itself, I think. But my muse is a finicky bitca, and loves to remind me who is boss, so there might be a sequel to this at some point.


	2. The Man in the Yellow Suit Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Well_ , Eobard thought to himself as he tore his cowl from his head, _that was an unmitigated disaster_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems that I am incapable of writing one shots. 
> 
> Enjoy!

_Well_ , Eobard thought to himself as he tore his cowl from his head, _that was an unmitigated disaster_.

Eobard had teased Barry from his lab earlier that evening, and led the younger man on a merry chase through the streets of Central City.  To him, it was exhilarating to finally run with the man who was the closest thing to an equal he had in this time.  Eobard would run slow enough for Barry to keep up, to almost catch him, then speed up to leave Barry chasing his lightning trail.  They ended up in the CCU stadium as Eobard planned, but that was when _the plan_ fell apart. 

No sooner had they paused on opposite ends of the field, had Barry ran toward him to attack.  Eobard deflected him, as gently as he could given their velocity, but it still sent Barry rolling along the astroturf.  Barry came at him again, and Eobard instead led him on a chase around the stadium, hoping the exertion would calm Barry down a bit.  Eobard forgot that this was Barry Allen, and running just revved him up more.

Eobard certainly hadn’t helped things when he said teasingly, “Not fast enough, Flash.”

That seemed to anger Barry even more, and the young man came at Eobard again.  Again, Eobard deflected him as gently as he could.  They went back and forth like this for several minutes, before Barry finally asked, “Who are you?!”

Eobard stopped above Barry as the other lay panting on the ground.  “You know who I am.”  He backed up as Barry regained his feet.

There was honest hate in Barry’s eyes, and Eobard thought that it was ill-suited for him.  “You’re him.  You killed my mother.  You framed my father.”

Unfortunately, vibrating his voice made Eobard sound colder than he intended when he answered, “Yes.”  He tried again with, “I was there that night fifteen years ago.”

“Why?  What did she ever do to you?”  Barry’s voice held all the anguish of a little boy, and it killed Eobard to hear it.

“Nothing,” Eobard replied.  “I was there that night to kill you.”

This stopped Barry, and for the first time there was confusion mixed with the hate in his eyes.  “Me?  What did I do to you?”

It was difficult for Eobard to keep his voice calm as he answered Barry’s question.  This was the part that he dreaded most: answering for his crimes.  “In the future, you hate me.  I’m your Reverse, Flash.  All I did was want to be like you, and you laughed in my face.  We were enemies, you and I.  So when I learned your name, I did what I had to to win.”  Eobard bowed his head.  “I went there that night to kill you, but your future self took you away before I could.  I was enraged, and I lost my temper.  Your mother paid the price.”

Barry stared at Eobard for a long moment.  “My mother died because you didn’t get your way.”  He shook his head then fell into a stance ready for running.  “Why tell me all this?  Why not just finish the job?  You’re clearly faster than me; it wouldn’t be difficult for you.”

“I’ve had a change of heart over the years.  I lost the ability to time travel that night.  I was stuck here, in this time, so while I waited for you to grow up, I watched you.  You aren’t the man I hate, Barry Allen.  That man is dead, erased from history.”  Eobard hesitated before continuing, “I’m not looking for a fight.”

“Maybe I am!”  Barry lunged forward with those words, then growled in frustration when Eobard easily stepped to the side and dodged.  “Stand still and fight me!”

Eobard shook his head.  “No, Barry Allen, I will not.”

They danced around the stadium some more, Barry trying to attack Eobard, and Eobard dodging and deflecting Barry.  After ten minutes, Eobard realized that Barry wouldn’t give up on this, so after a final time of flipping Barry onto his back, Eobard stepped back and said, “I’ll come back when you’ve had a chance to calm down” before running away.

Which is how Eobard found himself running his hand through his hair and silently cursing himself for the stupid optimism he had earlier that this would be so easily taken care of.  Of course it wouldn’t be that simple.  Somewhere in the multiverse, the future Flash was laughing at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite myself, I do have more bunnies with this, which is why the unspecified chapter number. It'll get updated as they come, fair warning.


	3. The Man in the Yellow Suit Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Flash discuss Reverse Flash's motivation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for [Hiver_Frost_Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiver_Frost_Elf/pseuds/Hiver_Frost_Elf) for plotty talks that helped me nail down exactly where this was going.
> 
> This chapter is mostly transitional, but necessary to get where we need to go.

The next day, Eo sat in his wheelchair as he listened to Barry retell the encounter to the team.  Of course the young man left out the important part where Reverse had avoided fighting him, and simply deflected the attacks.  Unfortunately, with that omission the encounter comes across as taunting and vaguely malicious.

“—then he just left,” Barry concluded.

Cisco frowned around a red vine.  “But why would he come out now?  If he’s been in hiding the last fifteen years, why break cover tonight?”

“An excellent question, Cisco,” Eo said as he rolled forward slightly in his chair.  He steepled his fingers as he added, “Perhaps there’s something he wants that only Barry can give him?”  Eo turned his head to look at Barry.  “You said that he claimed to have lost the ability to travel through time that night.  If we assume that he traveled via his speed that means perhaps he lost his speed that night.  Maybe he’s only just now gotten it back, or back enough to protect him from your wrath.”

Barry frowned thoughtfully.  “So wait, if I go fast enough I can travel in time?”

Eo tilted his head.  “It is theoretically possible.  If that is indeed how he traveled through time, instead of with a ship of some sort, then this Reverse Flash would be proof.”

“Aw man, I never thought _time travel_ would ever be a thing I’d get to have a serious conversation about,” Cisco said excitedly.  At the looks he got from Barry and Caitlin, he cringed apologetically.  “I mean, it’s horrible, but…time travel.”

Eo visibly withheld a sigh, because it was expected from Harrison Wells, but secretly he was pleased with Cisco’s enthusiasm.  “He didn’t say anything else, Barry?  No other hint as to why he revealed himself now?” 

Barry shook his head, clearly frustrated.  “No, nothing.  He just tossed me around some, admitted to murdering my mom, then left.”

Of course Eo knew there was more than that, and he was annoyed with Barry for the omissions.  How was he supposed to win over the team if Barry refused to cooperate?  This stubbornness made him glad that he’d decided to forgo stealing Tina’s tachyon device.  That would have been unnecessarily messy, and possibly problematic toward his new goal.  As it was, Eo could see that he’d need to adjust the timeline for his reveal.  Instead of being able to just come forth after another meeting or two with Reverse, Eo would need to help Barry as his Reverse.  Perhaps taking down some meta threats together would change the young man’s disposition.  Not that he would be doing the work for him, of course not, but perhaps he would help with the Flash’ tougher opponents.  That wouldn’t be too untoward.

“Well, there is little we can do right now.  If— _when_ ,” Eo corrected at Barry’s sharp look, “he shows himself again, use caution, and try to get him to admit his motivation for revealing himself.  He must have a plan in mind, to reveal himself to you now, and we cannot plan how to deal with him if we don’t know what his end game is.”

“Doctor Wells is right, Barry.  Just be careful if you run into him again,” Caitlin added.  She’d been silent most of this meeting, and Eo wondered at her distraction.  In his experience, only one thing distracted her as much, and he wondered if that meant Firestorm had finally come out of hiding.

Barry rolled his eyes, but finally acquiesced.  “Fine, I’ll be careful.”

“And don’t attack him on sight next time.”  At the looks the others gave him, Eo elaborated, “Give this Reverse Flash a chance to explain more.  We don’t know his motivation for coming forward, and we’re not likely to learn it if Barry constantly attacks him before giving him a chance to explain.  I’m not saying he’s suddenly turned over a new leaf, but we need to find out what his plan is.”  And they needed to give him a chance to prove himself.  It was a little difficult to prove himself if the Flash attacked him every time he showed his face.

Cisco, though he looked reluctant, nodded in agreement.  “Doctor Wells has a point.  You can kick his ass any time, but if you keep attacking him on sight he might stop trying to talk.”

This wasn’t something Barry was happy about, that much was clear.  “You want me to play nice with my mother’s murderer?  This is insane.  He needs to be caught and made to confess so my dad can get out of Iron Heights.”

“And I’m sure we’ll get there, Barry, but if we can get him to reveal what his goal is, we can better prepare,” Caitlin pointed out.

Eo watched as Barry’s lips pursed with displeasure, but the younger man nodded.  “I won’t start out attacking him, but I won’t be held responsible if this backfires in our faces.”

“A chance to hear what he has to say is all we ask, Barry,” Eo said.  The hard part was over, thankfully.  Now that he’d gotten Barry to agree to give him a chance to talk, he just had to bide his time.  He didn’t want to distract Barry from his work, so Eo would wait a while before going out in his suit.

***

Unfortunately, that went out the window when Hartley decided to blow out Eo’s skylight a few weeks later.


	4. The Sound and the Fury Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the attack by Eo's prodigal son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to do something a little different from here on out. I rewatched this episode recently (along with most of Season 1 for the various fics I’ve written lately) and had an idea halfway through the episode. I decided to roll with it, mostly because I couldn’t see how I could turn Hartley around to Eo’s side of things without something drastic occurring.
> 
> And just a small editing note: I've gone back and added chapter titles, because when I was writing for The Sound and the Fury, I realized I should probably differentiate between episodes in the chapter titles. Live and learn, as they say. I actually have all of this episode's portion of the fic written out, but I think I'll space out the posting to every couple of days. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this offering, short though it is.

Eo pushed himself off the floor, his face set in an annoyed scowl.  The voice on the phone, that was Hartley.  He knew that Hartley wasn’t happy with him; nobody who was terminated the way that Hartley was would be pleased.  Eo just never thought Hartley would attack him directly, or that Hartley would build his sonic gauntlets so soon in the timeline.  Then again, if there was anything that this new timeline was teaching Eo, it was that things rarely went as they were supposed to.

After filling in the space left by his body with the glass that had landed on him, Eo put away his gun.  His neighbors would, by now, have alerted the police about the attack—all that glass shattering would have been hard to miss—and he would soon find himself inundated with them.  He retrieved his glasses on the way back to that thrice damned chair, and plotted his next move as he waited for the first officers to arrive.

Hartley was one of Eo’s very few miscalculations.  It wasn’t difficult to ascertain that Hartley had daddy issues when Eo hired him, or that he could use a positive father figure in his life.  Eo had sought to fill that need in Hartley, and for a time he had.  Hartley had a mind unlike any that Eo had seen in all the years he’d been stuck in this backwater time period.  It had been Eo’s initial goal to groom Hartley as his heir; to leave STAR Labs with him when Eo eventually went home. 

That plan, unfortunately, had to be tossed out when Hartley wouldn’t let go of the ‘error’ he found in the accelerator.  Eo thought that he could convince Hartley to drop the issue, but the young genius wouldn’t.  For all that Hartley was often abrasive when dealing with his peers, the boy did have a good heart.  

A good heart that had been burned one too many times, it would seem.

Eo’s eyes narrowed as he stared out at the field of glass across his foyer.  Hartley had to have seen Eo standing.  That second wave of attack had been while he was standing.  That could be problematic.  Did Hartley see his lightning?  If so, what would Hartley do with that knowledge?  Where did Hartley go, and when would he attack next?  Because Eo was certain that Hartley wouldn’t leave things between them like this.  He would want to drag this whole affair out as long as he could, to make things as unpleasant for Eo as possible.

Nothing Eo could do about it for now except wait to see how it unfolded.  Hopefully, this wouldn’t affect his efforts to win Barry over.


	5. The Sound and the Fury Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's something peculiar going on with Barry, and Eo's determined to get to the bottom of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is probably the longest chapter in this so far, but it was necessary for the scene.
> 
> EDIT: Some minor errors fixed thanks to [Hiver_Frost_Elf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiver_Frost_Elf/pseuds/Hiver_Frost_Elf) hitting me over the head with a newspaper and pointing them out.

Hartley was going out of his way to make life difficult for Eo.  Not surprising, really.  No, what was surprising was what was going on with Barry. 

Ever since he apprehended Hartley, Barry had been acting…strange.  At first, Eo put it down to the fact the three children were upset with him, but that didn’t explain Barry’s sudden fascination with the speed equation, or the fact that he suddenly _knew_ the speed equation.  Barry, while interested in going faster, had never before shown an interest in the science behind his powers.  And the odd looks Barry had been giving him before he reluctantly went to deal with whatever was going on at the CCPD.  Eo didn’t like the picture this was painting.

When Barry came back, he’d make his move.  He hated the thought of hurting Barry, but the more he thought about it, the more certain he was that whoever this impostor was, it wasn’t his Barry Allen.

***

Eo studied the doppelgänger he had cuffed to his wheelchair.  The man was unconscious, for now, giving Eo time to try to find out who it was.  He’d already had Gideon run all the scans she could, but her scans repeatedly stated that this _was_ Barry Allen.  The only question that remained was if this was a future version of Barry, or one from an alternate Earth.

The man handcuffed to the chair groaned as he regained consciousness, and Eo tilted his head as he watched the younger man’s eyes flutter open.  “What hit me?”  The young man looked around, but didn’t seem confused about where he was.  Interesting.  “Doctor Wells?  What’s going on?”

Eo leaned forward in the chair.  “I’m trying to figure out who you are, and what you’ve done with _my_ Barry.”

The imposter laughed, clearly forced, and tried to brush the accusation off.  “What are you talking about?  _I’m_ Barry.”  He rattled the handcuff, then seemed to realize what he was handcuffed to and panic flitted across his face briefly.

Eo stood and tapped into the speed force to get right up on top of the impostor.  No reaction.  “I move like this, and you barely flinch.”  He leaned back against the wall as he stared down at the younger man with narrowed eyes.  “You know who I am.”

The younger man tried to bluff, but gave it up when he saw that Eo wasn’t swayed.  His features settled on extreme dislike.  “Yes, Thawne, I know who you are.”

Eo’s eyes closed at the sound of his name for the first time in fifteen years.  “You have no idea how good it feels to hear my name after so long.”  His eyes opened and focused on the young man before him.  “What that doesn’t explain is you.  Who are you?”

“I’m Barry Allen.”  The young man then tried to vibrate his hand out of the cuff, which caused Eo to laugh.

Future it is.

“And you’re from the future.  I haven’t taught _my_ Barry how to vibrate through solid objects.  Yet,” Eo said as he pushed off the wall to pace around the chair and the future Barry Allen.  “So you know who I am, and you are not pleased to see me.  I can only presume that I failed.”  It hurt to know that despite his best efforts, nothing his other self did convinced this version of Barry that he'd truly changed his ways.  It reminded Eobard to tread carefully in guiding his children towards the right thinking: his thinking.  “Why are you here, Barry?”  It was with a heavy heart that Eo once again sat in the chair near Barry.

“To trick me and my friends into thinking there was good in you?  Yeah, we saw through that ruse real quick.  You murdered my mother, Thawne.  Why the hell would we believe that you’d had a change of heart?”

It hurt to hear those words from Barry, but Eo was used to hurting.  No, instead he would use this opportunity that had been dropped into his lap.  “Barry, I’m going to tell you something now that I have a captive audience in a way I’m assuming I never got in your timeline.”  He laced his fingers together as he leaned forward in the chair, his elbows braced on his knees.  “I know that you might not believe it now, but I love you, and Caitlin, and Cisco, and even Hartley down in the pipeline.  You are all like the children I never had.  Watching you grow up, subtly guiding your schooling such as I could from the shadows…I imagine that I have an inkling of how Joe and your father feel.  I’ll never hurt you intentionally, Barry, I swear it.”

Barry scoffed at the speech.  “Yeah, right.  You’re nothing like my father, or Joe.  You’re a monster who murdered my mom.  I don’t know what your endgame is with this sick manipulation, but I won’t fall for it.  I didn’t before, and I won’t now.”

Eo gave Barry a sad smile.  “I know you don’t believe me now, Barry, but you will.  I’ll spend the rest of my very long life proving it to you, if I must.”  He took a deep breath before pushing himself to his feet.  “For now, however, I’m not sure that I should let you just run around in this time period.  What did you do to my Barry?  You knocked him out somehow, right?  Where did you stash him?”

“Why would I tell you?  So you can kill me and get him?  I left a letter for him.  Anything happens to me, he still finds out your secret.”  Barry looked so satisfied to have gotten one over on Eo, that Eo almost didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth.

“That’s almost devious of you, Barry.  I’m proud that you’re finally thinking ahead.  It won’t do any good, however.  I’m not sure how things worked out in your timeline, though it’s clear that when I revealed myself to you that you didn’t believe me, and you did something to me.  I had planned to break it to you slowly, but I’ll tell my Barry the truth now, if it’ll help keep him from the pain you clearly still suffer from.”

Barry shook his head as he stared at Eo.  “Why are you so hung up on this lie, Thawne?  What do you hope to accomplish?”

Eo considered Barry for a long moment.  He was from the future.  It shouldn’t hurt to tell him the truth.  To finally tell him the truth as he’d wanted to at the stadium, before his Barry attacked.  At least now he had a captive audience.  “I wanted to go home, initially.  After I murdered your mother, and lost my speed, all I cared about was getting back home.  I spent the next fifteen years in this backwater time period working toward that goal.  But something happened along the way: I got to watch you grow up, Barry.  I knew what you would be when I brought you here after the lightning. 

“Yet instead of wanting you to wake up so that we could begin your training, to make you faster so I could go home, I found myself…well, I wanted you to wake up because it hurt to see you lying there every day.”  Barry scoffed at that, but Eo pressed on.  “It’s true.  I won’t lie to you, Barry.  You, Cisco, and Caitlin…through you all I think I know what Joe feels.  You are like children to me.  I celebrate in your victories, and mourn your losses.”  Barry was being stubborn, but Eo wasn’t sure how else he was supposed to make him believe.  Well, there was one way, he supposed.

Barry stared at him with distrust as Eo uncuffed him.  He rubbed his wrist as he asked, “Why’d you do that?”

Eo shrugged.  “There’s no point in keeping you locked up.  Besides, we have bigger fish at the moment than this needless feud you insist on.  The Time Wraith.”  At Barry’s confused look, he rolled his eyes.  “The shadow following you around, we call them Time Wraiths.  Time Wraiths go after speedsters who time travel and don’t know what they’re doing.  I thought at first that it was after me, but then I thought ‘No, I _know_ what I’m doing’.”  Eo gave Barry a scolding look.  “You, however, clearly do not.”

“How do we kill it?” Barry asked.

“No idea.  Nobody knows how to kill them, but if we don’t do something, it will keep following you until it kills you, and that is unacceptable.”  He was about to continue when Gideon popped up a screen showing Cisco and Caitlin huddled in Hartley’s cell.  “This will have to wait.  Let's go.”  Eo sat in his wheelchair and followed Barry from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where I decided that, no, this wasn't going to be the Sound and the Fury, but Flash Back. The only reason I haven't put it in the chapter title is cause I wanted it to be a surprise. My idea is that from this point on, this is the timeline Barry goes back to in the future. Hartley wasn't the only change Barry found when he got back to the future. I'm not sure if I should write a chapter with Barry's reaction to that or not, since this fic is from Eo's POV. Or maybe a separate fic with Barry's reaction? Thoughts?


	6. The Sound and the Fury/Flash Back Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo gets Barry home, then has a long-needed conversation with Hartley

Eo watched as the children tried to come up with a plan.  His Barry had shown up not too long after they’d let Cisco and Caitlin out of Hartley’s cell and moved to the cortex.  Now that everyone knew Barry was a time traveler, Eo was just trying to keep him from telling them absolutely everything.  Thankfully, he cared enough about the timeline to leave it alone.  Eo did wonder about that ‘one day’ he’d mentioned.  When else had Barry traveled through time?  This was clearly not his first jaunt through time.

They were going in circles.  There was something Eo could do while Cisco tried to come up with a way to stop the Time Wraith.  “Barry— _future_ Barry,” Eo added when both Barrys looked at him, “come with me.”  He led the way back to his sanctuary. 

“What are we doing here?”  Barry glared at Eo’s suit before turning to Eo.

Eo fished a small thumb drive from his pocket.  “Getting you home.”  He got up from his wheelchair and walked to Gideon’s console.  “I won’t hold your hand through this; I can’t.  I don’t know why you need to go faster, and I don’t _want_ to know, but this has everything you’ll need to enhance the speed force in your system and run faster than you ever thought possible.”  He pulled the drive out then walked over to hand it to Barry.  “Take this, get out of my time, and take that Time Wraith with you.  I will make certain that the children figure out how to get rid of it in the year they have.”  It filled him with pride to be able to say that if anyone could figure out how to kill a Time Wraith, it would be Cisco and Hartley.  And he said Hartley, because this might just be what he needed to bring Hartley back under his wing.  Oh, there was hurt there, and Eo would have to work hard to fix it, but Hartley might actually help Eo’s standing with the others.  Out of all of them, Hartley knew Eo the best.

Barry pursed his lips, but he took the thumb drive.  “This doesn’t change anything, Thawne.”

Eo smiled as he watched Barry stalk from the room.  “Oh, but it does, Barry.  You helped me realize what I need to do.”

***

After the other Barry has gone home, Eo asked the children to turn off the audio from the equipment keeping an eye on Hartley and went to have a chat with his prodigal son.

Hartley stood and crossed his arms when he saw Eo come around the corner.  “Harrison.  I’d say it’s a pleasure, but we both know lying is beneath me.  How are Caitlin and Cisco?”

Eo studied Hartley for a minute before answering.  “They’re fine.”  He thought about keeping the time travel a secret, but if he wanted to mend fences with Hartley, lying about anything would accomplish nothing.  “The thing was after Barry—a Barry from the future.”

“That’s how he knew about the bombs,” Hartley said thoughtfully.

“Indeed.  He’s gone back to his time now, and he took the thing with him.  It would seem that we have a year to figure out how to kill it.”  Eo laced his fingers together in his lap as he thought about how to put what he needed to say next.  “I’m sorry, Hartley.  I should have handled things better.”

“The great Harrison Wells apologizing?  Are you admitting that you were wrong?”  Hartley sounded surprised, though he was giving Eo a piercing look.

“About firing you, yes,” Eo admitted without pause.  “There are—were—events going on that you weren’t aware of.  I haven’t spoken with the others about them yet, but I’ll tell you first.”

Hartley’s eyes narrowed.  “Why?”

Eo spread his hands, guileless.  “Because I miss working with you, we could use your help, and lies would make for a poor foundation for a new working relationship.”

“What makes you think I’d ever work with you, Harrison?”  The derision in Hartley’s voice was hard to hear, but Eo supposed he deserved it.

“Because you’re bored, Hartley, and you crave the challenge that working with the Flash would grant you.”  Eo paused purposefully, then continued when he was sure that he had Hartley’s attention.  “Because you’re a better person than I am, and you will do what is right rather than let your hurt pride dictate your actions.”

Hartley frowned at Eo, clearly confused.  “And if I refuse?  I suppose I’ll stay locked up here.”

Eo shook his head.  “Not at all.  While you are a metahuman, Hartley, you don’t have any outward gifts that we’ve seen.  Stripped of your gauntlets, you are just a very smart young man who made some poor life choices.  If you refuse to help us, we will turn you over to the police.”  He rolled back from the cell, about to turn around.  “Take some time to think about it.  I promise you Hartley that I am not the enemy, and I only want what is best for you.  Whether you believe it or not is up to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you know how odd it was to watch Tom hop in and out of that wheelchair? So very odd, because to that point we’d never see him do it. Eo was always in the chair, until he wasn’t. But something about seeing the act of him getting in and out of it kinda made him more human.
> 
> And can I say that it was a joy, a genuine joy, to watch Eo’s face as future!Barry kept talking and revealing tidbits of the future. Rewatch the scene, because Eo’s face is hilarious. Just like “No!” “Don’t say—” “Wait—” and then he just kinda facepalms and it is beautiful. God bless Tom Cavanagh.


	7. The Sound and the Fury/Flash Back Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo plans for the future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the final chapter of The Sound and the Fury/Flash Back.

Eo allowed himself a small sigh as he rolled back to the cortex.  Having Hartley in his corner would help a great deal in convincing the others that he was good, despite the lies.  He wasn’t too worried about Hartley refusing; the man was as egocentric as Eo was, but unlike Eo, Hartley was a good man at his core who’d been dealt a bad hand.  While there was a time when Eo would have once classified himself as a good man, it hadn’t been for many years.

No, what Eo worried about was upping his timetable for revealing himself to the children.  Clearly, taking months to slowly show Reverse Flash as a good guy who helped the Flash was a plan doomed to failure.  No, Eo would have to go out as Reverse Flash the next time Barry fought a metahuman and prove that he was good.  As for Eo himself, he needed to reveal himself to be a metahuman.  He’d start with healing being one of his gifts.  Eo was thoroughly sick and tired of this thrice damned chair.  Maybe he’d start having his legs twitch in their view, then say when asked that he had noticed increased feeling, but hadn’t wanted to get their hopes up.

With plans for the near future settled, Eo entered the cortex. 

***

“Doctor Wells?” Barry sounded so confused, poor boy.

Eo gave them all a brief smile, “No worries.  I just had a little chat with Hartley.  In light of the help he gave us, gave you, earlier, I offered to let him free if he would stay on to help us.”

The three shared a look before Cisco asked hesitantly, “And if he’s his usual douchy self?”

“Then we will turn him over to the police.  His metahuman ability doesn’t appear to be offensive, so we have no need to keep him in the pipeline,” Eo shrugged. “However, I don’t believe it will come to that.  At his core, Hartley is a good man.”

Cisco scoffed as he said, “A ‘good man’ who totally wrecked his parents’ building.”

“Hartley did help us when we were trapped in his cell,” Caitlin added tentatively.

“Yeah, after it was apparent that his life was on the line, too,” Cisco countered.

“Guys, guys!  Everyone deserves a second chance.  Let’s see what Hartley does before we condemn him.” This came from Barry, and Eo made sure the younger man saw his proud smile.  Maybe there was hope for him yet.

“Fine, but I’m totally going to say ‘I told you so’ when he turns all Anakin on us.”  Cisco pointed at everyone then turned around to go work on the gauntlets.

Eo rolled closer to Caitlin, “I’m going to my office.  Would you mind keeping an eye on Hartley, and let me know when he’s ready to talk?”

“Of course, Doctor Wells.”

Eo smiled at her and Barry before leaving the room.  Things were starting to look up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still writing the next few chapters, no promises when they'll come out, though because I've decided that I want to post them when I get a complete set, just for less stress on me for a writing deadline and you, the reader, for a cliffhanger.
> 
> I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to write a piece set in this timeline detailing what, exactly, Barry went back to the future to find. Clearly not just Hartley working with Team Flash, nor the plothole introduced in Flashpoint where in that one specific instance, the timeline changes his memories to fit the new timeline. Considering some of the plotting me and HFE have done, maybe he doesn't go back to a future version of this timeline. I'll figure it out by the time I get there in the timeline, I'm sure. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this!


	8. Crazy for You Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo and Hartley come to an understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got this "episode" completed, so I'll be posting chapters every couple of days. This chapter's a little short compared to some, but it's the prologue. Those are always short. 
> 
> Enjoy!

It took Hartley three days before he called out for Eo, which was honestly two days longer than he’d been expecting.  Eo rolled down to speak with him after ensuring that they’d have their privacy.

Hartley was sitting on the floor of his cell, facing the glass door with his arms on his knees.  “The great Harrison Wells has decided to come see me.  I’m touched.”

Eo gave Hartley a quelling look.  “Hartley.”

The younger man raised his hands in peace.  “Sorry, habit.”  Hartley stared at Eo for a minute before speaking.  “I saw something interesting at your house.  Are they aware that you don’t need that chair?”

Thankfully, Eo was ready for this question.  “It’s a recent development.  I wanted to be sure it was permanent before I told them.  I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything about it until I did.”

Hartley gave him a confused look.  “How?  I heard there was only a 13% chance that you’d ever walk again, and typically that number goes down with time.”

Eo smiled ruefully.  “It turns out that the Flash isn’t the only metahuman on our team.”

“How fortuitous for you.  Congratulations, Harrison,” Hartley said.

“Thank you, Hartley.”  Now that the pleasantries were out of the way, Eo asked, “Have you thought about my offer?”

“I have, and I must admit that it is tempting, what with my only other option being a jail cell.”  Hartley gave a small, mocking smile before standing.  “However, I have no desire to be anyone’s bitch, so I accept.”

Eo smiled broadly.  “I thought you might.”  He tapped at the controls on his chair and the cell opened.

Overhead, Cisco’s panicked voice came over the speakers, “Uh, Doctor Wells, what’s going on?  The cell door’s opening.  Don’t move, Ba—I mean the Flash is on his way.”

Barry arrived before Cisco finished speaking, cowl up.  “Doctor Wells?”

Eo gave a small huff of amusement as he looked over his shoulder at Barry.  “It’s fine, Barry.  I let him out.”  He turned forward to face Hartley.  “Shall we go up to the cortex for some introductions?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so Hartley officially joins Team Flash. How will he fare on the team? Guess time will tell.


	9. Crazy for You Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo and Caitlin discuss Eo's health

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HFE and I were discussing this and decided there needed to be more Eo and Caitlin interaction. This was the result. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Eo watched with pride as Cisco and Hartley bickered over the design of the sonic gun they were building.  It had been a week since he had released Hartley from his cell, and he was very pleased with how everyone was getting along.  A little animosity between Cisco and Hartley was expected, given their previous working relationship, but he could tell that Hartley was trying not to be so condescending.  It was a surprise, but a pleasant one.

That Eo no longer had to worry about Cisco and Hartley overtly attacking one another was a relief.  What wasn’t a relief was trying to decide how he would reveal his healed legs to his other three children.  Hartley had been giving him looks for the last two days, and Eo was worried the young man would say something before Eo was ready.  With that in mind, Eo rolled up to Caitlin and quietly asked, “Doctor Snow, would you mind coming with me?  There’s something that I wish to discuss.”

“Of course, Doctor Wells,” she replied.

Eo led Caitlin to her medical lab, then spun to face her.  “I first noticed it several months ago, not long after Thanksgiving.  I haven’t told any of you before now because I honestly didn’t want to get my hopes up that it was permanent.”  He looked down at his lap, feigning sheepishness.

Caitlin looked confused.  “Noticed what?  If you noticed something with your health, you should have told me, Doctor Wells.”

“I know, Caitlin, but as I said: I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”  Eo took a breath then looked at her as he purposefully moved his right leg off the foot rest.

She gasped, “Oh my god, Doctor Wells!”  Caitlin’s voice was loud as her hand flew up to cover her mouth.  Hopefully not loud enough to draw the attention of Cisco and Hartley; Barry was at work, thankfully.  Eo wanted to break the news to Caitlin first, so that he had her backing him when he told the boys.

Eo licked his lips as he slowly stood from the chair.  Caitlin reached out to steady him, eyes wide.  “It started with tingles, pins and needles mostly.  Then a couple of weeks later, I noticed that my legs twitched.  I’ve been working on physical therapy ever since.”

“But how,” Caitlin asked in confusion.  “You shouldn’t have been able to heal from that, and certainly not in such a short period of time.”

Eo rolled up his sleeve as he said, “I suspect, Doctor Snow, that you will find the metahuman gene if you were to test for it.”

Caitlin’s eyes got wider, but she wasted no more time in drawing blood for the test.  “Have you noticed anything else out of the ordinary?  Any other abilities?”

Eo shook his head.  He had thought about mentioning the time dilation, but had ultimately decided against it for now.  “Nothing as of yet, though I haven’t exactly been looking.”

“Understandable.”  She pointed to one of the exam beds.  “I want to run a full physical on you.  You really should have told me when you began having feeling, Doctor Wells.”

“I apologize, Caitlin.”  Eo hopped up onto the exam bed then idly kicked his legs as he waited for her to start her exam.  It felt so good to be able to move freely outside of his home.  He looked over toward the centrifuge that was separating his blood.  There is the chance that Caitlin will discover that his cellular structure is near identical to Barry’s, but it’s worth it in the long run.  Caitlin has enough faith in him that Eo’s certain she’ll approach _him_ with her findings before going to the other children with them, as Barry or Cisco might have.

Caitlin ran him through his paces, checking his weight, blood pressure, and reflexes.  She had him strip to his shorts as she checked his legs.  “Amazing.  You seem to have recovered all of the muscle mass you lost after the accident.”

Eo watched as she made a few notes on her tablet.  “There is one other thing I have noticed.”  It was better to admit this now, than wait for the awkward questions.  “An increase in appetite.  I’ve found myself eating more over the last few months.  These days, I need to eat about twice what I used to eat.”  Of course that wasn’t anywhere near his caloric intake, but she didn’t need to know that quite yet.

“That makes sense, given how your body has been healing such a severe injury; you’re burning a lot of calories repairing the damage to your spine.”  She made a few more notes then lowered her tablet to smile at him, a hint of puzzlement in the twist of her lips.  “I’ll know more once the bloodwork comes back, but I noticed that your heart rate and temperature are also elevated, and your body seems to be processing oxygen much more efficiently.”

“I’m sure it will all come together soon.  I trust you, Caitlin.”   Eo smiled warmly at her from his seat on the exam bed.  “Are you satisfied that I’m in perfect health, Doctor Snow?” 

Caitlin nodded then turned to go back to her desk.  “I can confidently say that you are in the best health of your life.  Go ahead and get dressed, and then you’re free to go.”  She turned back to him, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

Eo’s eyes narrowed slightly.  Caitlin only bit her lip like that when something was bothering her.  “What is it, Caitlin?”

She gave a few false starts, mouth opening to speak before closing abruptly, before she finally got out, “I’m just having the strangest feeling of déjà vu.”

Caitlin was already subconsciously putting the pieces together; clever girl.

“I’m sure that it will come to you later,”  Eo grabbed his clothes and moved behind the screen to get dressed.  “So do you think we should wait for Barry to come before breaking the news of my miraculous recovery to the boys?” 

“I mean, we _could_ tell Cisco and Hartley now, but do you really want to have to deal with Barry’s pouting that we didn’t wait for him?” 

Eo laughed, because yes Barry would pout at being left out,  “You raise a good point, Caitlin.  Very well, we shall wait.”  He stepped out from behind the screen, dressed once more, and walked over to his wheelchair.  He couldn’t wait until he could ditch it for good. 

Caitlin watched as he settled into the wheelchair with a kind smile,  “It’s only for a couple of hours, Doctor Wells.” 

He could admit that he was surprised by how readily Caitlin took to the fact that they were going to keep his regained mobility a secret from the others.  Clearly, she liked knowing something that they didn’t.  “I’m going to be in my office until Barry comes; no need to tempt fate, after all.  Please let me know what the results are when your analysis is complete.”

“Of course, Doctor Wells.  The results should be ready later today,” Caitlin turned back toward her desk to finish her notes in Doctor Wells’ chart.

Eo watched her for a few moments then rolled from the room.  This most recent part of his plan had gone exceptionally well.  Next he needed Reverse Flash to be seen helping Flash.  Now _that_ part of his plan would be tricky.  Thankfully, Eo was more than up to the challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get me wrong, I LOVE EoWells in that wheelchair, but I also kinda sympathize with his desire to get out of it. For a speedster, that must have been torture.


	10. Crazy for You Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While hunting their teleporting metahuman, Eo has a surprise to show Team Flash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter borrows heavily from the episode, just a warning. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“Not even Barry’s cells move this fast,” Caitlin said as she stared at the display.  “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Thank you for stating the obvious, Caitlin.”  Hartley rolled his eyes, but a quelling look from Eo had him backing down and muttering.  “Sorry.”

“So Clay Parker _is_ a metahuman,” Joe asked, clearly trying to pin down what he was seeing.

Eo frowned as he stared at the screen, rolling forward slightly to get a better look, “Not so fast.  The particulate residue that Barry gathered at Iron Heights does contain Clay Parker’s DNA, but also DNA of a woman.”

“Run her DNA against the CCPD criminal database.  See if you get a match,” Barry turned to look at Cisco, who immediately began typing.

Hartley looked at the people in the room, “So this is what you do?  You break the law to find metahuman criminals?”

“If it helps us get these people off the streets, this is worth it.  It’s no worse than we’d do at the precinct,” Joe was defensive, which was never a good thing.

Barry frowned at Hartley, trying to remember that he was new to all this, “Iron Heights isn’t built to house metahumans, Hartley.  This way no police officers are put in danger, and we get criminal metahumans off the streets.” 

“Yahtzee,” Cisco said as he leaned back.  “I found her.  Her name’s Shawna Baez.  She’s got a bunch of petty charges, including a lot of disorderly conducts at various bars; looks like our girl likes to party.”

Hartley leaned over Cisco’s shoulder to get a better look, “Someone caught up in the wrong crowd.”

“So I’m thinking if we find her, we find Clay Parker,” Joe took a few notes from the screen then put his notepad away.  “Barry?”

Barry nodded as he rounded the console, “Yeah, let’s go.”

“In the meantime, let’s track these particulates and see how they work,” Eo shared a look with Caitlin before he locked the wheels of his chair, and stood.  He smiled at the shocked exclamations from Barry, Joe, and Cisco.

“Can someone please explain to me why Doctor Wells can suddenly stand?”  Poor Cisco, he sounded so confused.  “I mean, yay, but…huh?”

“Doctor Wells?”  Barry was clearly trying to understand this new development.  He sounded happy about it despite his confusion at least.

Eo saw Joe’s suspicious look, but ignored it for now.  There would be time enough later to deal with Joe.  “It would appear that I am also a metahuman.”

“But the accelerator blew over a year ago; why are you only walking now?”  Joe, ever the practical one.  Eo had a feeling that would come to bite him in the ass one day.

“I didn’t want to mention it until I was certain that it was permanent, but I began to get feeling back shortly after Thanksgiving.  Presumably, it took that long to heal the worst of the damage.  As for why now, I have no idea.  I presume testing with Caitlin might hold the answer.”

“Have you presented any other abilities, Harrison?” Hartley asked pointedly.  He, of course, knew what Eo’s primary ability was.  Hopefully, he kept quiet about it a little longer now that Eo had told the team this much.

“Nothing that I can say with certainty at this time, I’m afraid.  Hopefully in the coming weeks, with my back fully healed, they will show themselves,” Eo nodded his head at Barry.  “You better go; you have a metahuman to catch.”

Barry looked torn between going with Joe, and staying at the lab, but finally nodded after a minute, “Okay.  I’ll be back when we know something.”

“This is awesome news, Doctor Wells.  I’m happy for you,” Cisco smiled.  “I say we go out to celebrate!”

Eo chuckled at that then turned toward the smaller medical lab off the cortex, “Perhaps later, Cisco.  We need to deal with this metahuman first.”

Caitlin moved to follow Eo, but paused to turn toward Hartley and Cisco, “Are you guys coming?”

“We’ll join you in a minute,” Hartley replied as he turned to lean back against the console beside Cisco.  He crossed his arms as he looked down at the other man. 

Caitlin nodded as she continued after Eo, “Okay.  So Doctor Wells, I was thinking…”

Eo looked back at the two men talking quietly, then focused on what Caitlin was saying.  It warmed him to see the boys playing nicely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You wouldn't think it, but this chapter gave me so much trouble. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but it's here and it's done. Hopefully you enjoyed it, because that's the important part.


	11. Crazy for You Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of Barry's first tangle with Peek-a-Boo, Caitlin has news for Eo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but plot happens.
> 
> Enjoy!

The next time Eo saw Barry, the young man had nearly been shot in the neck.  Eo watched as Caitlin dabbed the small wound the bullet had left before Barry had caught it.  It made him cold inside to think how close he came to losing Barry today. 

“So Shawna can teleport,” Barry hissed as Caitlin dabbed at the small wound.

“Sorry,” Caitlin withdrew the cotton swab with a frown.  “Wait.  You mean, ‘Beam me up, Shawna’?”

Barry nodded.

“It makes sense.  Quantum entanglement,” When Eo received blank looks from Caitlin and Barry, he walked closer to them and continued, “The ability to manipulate interconnected particles over an infinite distance.”  Eo rolled his eyes at the still vacant stares.  “Or as Einstein put it, ‘Spooky actions at a distance.’”  Seriously, what were they teaching children these days?  This was elementary science in his time.

“I couldn’t get near her,” Barry said with a shake of his head.  “Every time I tried, she’d teleport away like some kinda of weird game of—”

“Peek-a-Boo!”  At the looks both men gave her, Caitlin said defensively, “Come on, I can’t name one?”

“Don’t let Cisco hear you,” Eo offered with a grin. 

Barry sighed.  “How am I supposed to catch her if I can’t predict where she’s going to be?”

“Everybody has limits, Mr. Allen.  Now that we know Shawna’s powers, we’ll focus on those limits,” Eo just had to be certain that the next time Barry tangled with her, Reverse was there to help.  Or could he’d just go out without Barry, and catch her on his own.  After all, she couldn’t be faster than him.  Once he figured out her pattern, it’d be a simple matter of catching her off guard.  He stepped off to the side, not quite so close to Barry and Caitlin, and watched as Barry stretched.

“All right.  Let me know.  I’m going to go change; I promised I’d help Iris,” Barry strolled out of the cortex.

After Barry left, Caitlin straightened up the tray she was using then said, “Your results are in, Doctor Wells.”

Eo looked up at her from where he’d been at the console checking the list of Shawna’s known hangouts, “Oh?”

“You are definitely a metahuman, but we already knew that.  Your cells move incredibly fast; faster than Barry’s even.”  Caitlin hesitated. 

Eo frowned then slowly made his way back over to her, speaking softly, “What else, Doctor Snow?  There’s something else you found.”  Of course he already knew everything she’d find, but she didn’t know that.

She hesitated a minute longer before saying, “Your results are eerily similar to Barry’s.  Not Barry as he was four months ago, but Barry as he is now.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that I was looking at Barry’s results.”

She really was very clever, his Caitlin Snow.  He was so proud of her, “You think that I might be a speedster, like Barry.”

Caitlin gave a small shrug, and sounded uncertain as she said, “Maybe?  Between what you’ve told me about your symptoms, and what these results say, I’d point to it being very likely.  Perhaps being around Barry so much in the early days rubbed off?  I really don’t know.”

Eo smiled proudly at her, “It’s okay, Caitlin.  Thank you for telling me.  I haven’t found myself speeding into walls yet, but as soon as I do I will let you know.”  He patted her shoulder, then turned to leave.  “If you need me, I’ll be in my office.”

“All right, Doctor Wells.”

He waited until he was out of sight to run to his sanctuary, the time vault, “Gideon, please start a new entry in the log…”


	12. Crazy for You Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Flash tries to figure out how to take out Shawna Baez

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically filler, sorry.

The next day passed quietly enough, if one ignored the bickering between Cisco and Hartley.  Eo wasn’t supposed to be aware, but they were hunting for Ronnie despite Caitlin’s very vocal wishes to the contrary.  He decided to let the boys be for now; if they found Ronnie, then he’d weigh in on things.  Otherwise, just the two of them looking wouldn’t hurt anything.

Barry took Caitlin out for drinks, and while they were out Eo focused on studying their teleporter.  He couldn’t hunt something he couldn’t find, after all.  He came across a very promising quality of her particulates, and Eo brought it up when the children were all there in the morning. 

“So basically if we can get her in a dark area, she won’t be able to teleport because she can’t see where she’s going,” Cisco summarized.

Hartley rolled his eyes, “That’s what Harrison just said.  Pay attention.”

Cisco growled, which reminded Eo of a cute kitten more than anything, “Bite me, Hartley.”

“Maybe later, if you ask nicely, Cisquito,” Hartley blew Cisco a kiss, which caused Cisco to huff in annoyance.

“Okay, so how are we supposed to get her into a dark room?”  Caitlin took a step forward, bringing attention to her and the issue at hand.  It saved Eo from chastising the two engineers.

“Do we even know where she is?” Cisco asked.

Eo was about to answer her when Barry’s cell phone rang.  He turned in his seat to watch as Barry stepped away to answer it.  Only the people in this room, the CCPD, and Barry’s family—Joe and Iris—had Barry’s cell number.  From the worried look Barry suddenly had, it had to be Joe, and only one thing could worry Barry that much.

Barry confirmed Eo’s suspicion moments later when he stepped back up to them paler than a ghost, “It’s my dad.  He’s been stabbed.”

“Go.  We’ll keep working on how to find Shawna from here.  Your father needs you.”  Barry gave Eo a grateful smile before flashing away.  It killed Eo to send him off, but Barry would be useless until he was certain that his father was okay. 

***

An hour later, Barry came back to the Lab.  “Dad said that someone named Julius stabbed him.  He’s one of Marcus Stockheimer’s men.”  Barry looked at Cisco and Hartley imploringly.  “Can you find out what cell in Iron Heights he’s in?”

Hartley and Cisco worked side by side at the console.  Hartley glanced over at Barry and asked, “That’s it?  No last name, no entry date, nothing?” 

“What’s the matter, Hartley?  Can’t you find the information with just that?  I mean, that’s more than what Barry usually gives us.  This is child’s play.”  Cisco smirked as he typed.

“Of course I can find the information, Cisquito.  In fact, I have it—”

“Julius Crespo, sentenced three years ago, he’s in Cell Block C cell 40,” Cisco smugly said as he spun his chair to face Hartley.  “You may applaud now.”

Hartley’s eyes narrowed as he turned to look at Cisco, “You are clearly more familiar with these systems than I am.  I’ve only been working with them for a little over a week.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Cisco smirked as he leaned back in his chair, arms going up behind his head.

Eo barely refrained from rolling his eyes at their antics.  Instead, he took a deep breath then turned to Barry, “Go.  See if you can get any useful information out of Mr. Crespo.”  He watched Barry change into his suit and run off.  The day that boy realized that Eo’s always been able to watch him change would be an interesting one.  Not that Eo was a pervert, or that he saw Barry in a romantic sense, but he could admit that it was very amusing to watch him become embarrassed and awkward.  Hopefully, it would also teach him a lesson in modesty, whether those around him could see him or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just curious: did anyone spot the Prison Break reference?


	13. Crazy for You Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo contemplates the state of affairs after the events in 1x12 Crazy for You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Eo stood in his sanctuary contemplating the video feeds on the wall in front of him, a large cup of soda from Big Belly Burger in hand.  Each window showed a different scene.  One showed Caitlin drinking a glass of wine in her living room while she watched Netflix.  Another showed Cisco and Hartley in Cisco’s workroom bent over blueprints while passing Chinese takeout boxes back and forth.  The last one showed Barry on his bed at Joe’s house, reading the latest issue of Popular Science, if Eo had to guess.

Eo found himself watching his children before going home as of late.  Now that he had decided that he was giving up his plans of going to his home time, he was at a bit of a loss at how to proceed.  He knew for the immediate future that he needed to somehow get Barry to accept help from Reverse Flash.  He also needed to decide how he was going to reveal that he was a speedster.  The latter was likely the more pressing issue. 

The plan for now was to change Barry’s view of Reverse Flash.  If that failed, Eo would need a Plan B.  Maybe Reverse Flash could make the noble sacrifice to save Barry’s life, or the lives of civilians, and be seen to die.  Then Eo could reveal that he’s a speedster with no risk of being confused for Reverse Flash.  It’d be a lie, of course, but it might just be the only way to keep his children if he couldn’t get Barry and the others to see reason about Reverse Flash.

“Gideon, show me how our guests in the pipeline are doing.”  Eo took a sip from his soda as Gideon brought up the feeds from the cells.  Kyle Nimbus was exercising, currently doing pushups; Roy Bivolo was sketching in the art pad that they’d given him; Shawna Baez was reading a medical text she’d asked Caitlin for. 

He honestly didn’t give two shits about any of them.  None of them were useful to him, and all had tried to hurt Barry.  However, he wasn’t unaware of how uncomfortable Joe was with this set up, and if Joe wasn’t comfortable then Barry likely wasn’t, either.  Something would need to be done with them.  They had a year to come up with the final design for the sonic gun.  Perhaps it was time to turn the combined engineer prowess of Cisco and Hartley on the issue of metahuman containment so that these three could be transferred somewhere else, such as Iron Heights. 

Moving them from the pipeline would likely go a long way to engendering a sense of fellowship in Joe.  Eo also was aware that the detective was wary of him, and that just wouldn’t do.  The detective might try to convince Barry that Eo wasn’t trustworthy.  It would be inconvenient to have to dispose of Joe; Barry would become more difficult to handle were anything to happen to him.  It would remain a last resort. 

Nothing would get between him and his children, not even the good meaning detective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final part of the Crazy for You episode set. I have most of the Nuclear Man episode set written, but there's still a few more parts to write. Because it's moderately plot heavy it's taking me longer to get through than I expected, so no guestimate on when I'll have them up, but hopefully in a couple weeks at most. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


	14. The Nuclear Man Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reverse starts his efforts to get on Barry's good side in earnest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer than usual. Sorry, not sorry? And I got the episode set finished to post today instead of making you wait, so there's that. ^_^
> 
> There's also a cameo from a certain detective's rogue gallery.
> 
> Enjoy!

_What the hell is_ she _doing here_ , was the question racing through Eo’s mind as he dodged the tentacle vines that the redhead in front of him threw his way.  Doctor Pamela Isley was a long way from home, and Eo wasn’t pleased about this development in the least.

As soon as Eo had gotten wind that Isley was in his city, he’d gone after her.  She wasn’t someone Barry was even remotely prepared to fight even though she hadn’t quite completed her transformation yet.  She could clearly control plants, but Eo didn’t think she’d yet developed the poison that named her nor the pheromones that made her such a danger to fight.  He needed to end this quickly before Barry showed up.

Pamela laughed as her vines chased the man in yellow, “Hold still, darling, I just want to give you a kiss!”

Eo hated it when he was wrong; she clearly had a preliminary version of her famous poison imbedded in her lipstick.  There was no way in hell he was letting her get close enough to kiss him.  She still had a role to play to the timeline, or he’d just kill her.  No, no, no killing; he was a _hero_ now.  Heroes didn’t kill.  Of all the times for him to go straight.

“Wow. This looks like that one anime I found a while back. Um. Whoa!”

 _Dammit_.  Eo spared a look to the side where Barry was now dodging another set of vines.  This was getting out of control.  “Don’t let her get her hands on you.  Her touch is deadly.” An exaggeration, but a necessary one Eo thought.

“Reverse Flash?  What are you doing here?  Are you in cahoots with her,” Barry exclaimed as he stupidly stopped running to talk.

Eo growled as he grabbed Barry as he ran by and saved him from getting caught by the vines. “Less talking, more fighting.  We can settle our differences later; for now, we need to neutralize her before she causes any more harm.  Here’s what we’re going to do: we each take a side and run around her to form a vortex to suck the oxygen from the center.”   _And hope that she hasn’t already begun converting to processing CO2 instead of oxygen._

“Fine.  We’ll deal with her, then we’re having a talk,” Barry pulled away from Eo to dash across from him to Pamela’s other side.

Running with Barry was a joy and a thrill even in such a dire situation.  Eo slowed down to pace him, and together they formed a vortex that sucked the air out from between them, as Eo had planned.

“Wha—what are you doing?! Stop!! No!!!”  Pamela tried to catch them, but their speed sheered her vines whenever they got close to the running duo.  It wasn’t long before she fell to the ground unconscious.

Eo slowed to a stop when Pamela fell.  “We need to restrain her and get her off of the ground, preferably onto something that isn’t dirt.”

Barry glared at Eo.  “You seem to know a lot about her.  Who is she?”

“Flash, meet Doctor Pamela Isley, otherwise known as Poison Ivy,” Eo gave an elaborate wave to where she lay. “She’s an ecoterrorist from Gotham, and she’s been playing with her own DNA to slowly change herself from mammal to plant.  So long as she’s touching earth she can control any plants she wants, including growing her own.  Her touch is also poisonous, and she will eventually have a pheromone that can control anyone exposed to it.”

“Seriously?”  Barry stared at Eo like he was crazy.  “She did this to herself??  _Why?!_ ”

Eo shrugged, “They breed them crazy in Gotham.”

Barry shook his head, “How do you know all this?  Have you been working with her?”

“No, Flash, I’m from the future; I’m aware of most of the heroes and villains of this time period.”  Eo walked over to Pamela and picked her up.

Barry took a step toward Eo, expression fierce, “Where are you taking her?”

“As far from you as I can get her.  I won’t risk you being around her,” Eo hesitated before adding, “I’m taking her back to Arkham Asylum.  Their security is laughable, but hopefully, the Bat will keep better watch on her this time.”

“You aren’t making sense,” Barry shifted his stance, clearly preparing to run.  “What makes you think I’m letting you take her anywhere?”

Eo smirked, “Because, Flash, you can’t catch me.”  That said, Eo took off.  Barry tried to follow him, but gave up about ten miles outside Central City’s limits.  It was less than Eo expected. 

An hour later, Eo—once more dressed as Harrison Wells—entered the cortex with a couple of large takeout bags from Big Belly Burger and a cardboard holder full of drinks, “Sorry I’m late.  You would not _believe_ the line this time of night.”

“Doctor Wells!  I saw him again—Reverse Flash!”  Barry said as soon as Eo had finished speaking.

Eo frowned as he set everything down, “Are you alright?  You didn’t confront him again, did you?”

Barry, dressed in Star Lab sweats, shook his head, “Not exactly.  There was a report of a new metahuman, and I found him fighting her when I got there.  He said her name was Pamela Isley, and she was evidently from Gotham.”

“Gotham?  She was a long ways from home,” Eo commented as he passed out the food.  “So she’s in the pipeline?”

Cisco shook his head, “Supposedly, Reverse took her back to Gotham.”

Hartley, who had been typing at the console up to this point, shook his head, “Not supposedly.  I have her intake back to Arkham Asylum right here.  It was filed about forty minutes ago.”

Barry turned to look at Hartley in surprise, “He actually turned her in?  He didn’t hurt her?”

Hartley shook his head, “According to this she was brought in by a man in a yellow suit, unconscious but otherwise unharmed.” He looked over at Barry with a small frown.  “You said he was an unrepentant murderer.  Why wouldn’t he just kill her and get it over with?”

“I don’t know.  I’m still not convinced they weren’t working together, though I don’t know why,” Barry scowled as he attacked his burger.

Eo listened with half an ear to the children continuing to discuss Reverse Flash’s motives as he considered how to handle this.  No one questioned his absence this time, but he couldn’t very well make a food run every time there was trouble.  As risky as it was, he’d have to consider creating a time remnant to help him in this.  He’d avoided them to this point because of the risk of bringing the attention of time wraiths like the Barry from the future brought with him several weeks ago.  If done correction, however, the risk should be minimal.

“What do you think, Doctor Wells?”  This from Caitlin, who had previously been quiet while the boys went back and forth with gradually more outrageous theories as to Reverse Flash’s motives.

“I think that there’s no point in speculating about what Reverse Flash is up to until we have more evidence,” Eo said before eating some of his curly fries.

Thankfully, the children dropped the discussion after that and moved on to plans for the weekend.

***

“Can we please talk about this like adults?”  Reverse Flash refrained from sighing, but only just barely, as he deflected another pathetic strike from the Flash.  “I suppose not.  Flash, what part of ‘I’m here to help’ don’t you understand?”

“The part where you murdered my mom!!!”  Barry snarled as he tried once again to land a hit.

Reverse idly wondered what his counterpart was doing on the other end of the Flash’s comms.  Probably chewing Barry out for this needless chase when all Reverse had done was interrupt the Rogues in the middle of a jewelry heist.  They’d escaped thanks to Flash’s insistence on attacking Reverse.  “And I am trying to atone for that sin, Flash.”

“There’s no atoning!  That isn’t something you can just say ‘sorry, my bad’ and expect to be forgiven!  You ruined my _life_!”  Barry tried to land a punch on Reverse only to find himself on his back once more.  “Dammit, _fight me_!”

“No,” Reverse did finally sigh as he planted his foot on Flash’s chest with just enough pressure to keep the kid down.  “I am trying to be patient.  I understand that grief is a difficult thing to overcome, but Barry,” Reverse leaned down before continuing, “you have had _fifteen years_ to come to terms with this.  I am _sorry_ that my hatred for a man no longer in existence led me to murdering your mother.  However, I am now offering to help you keep this city safe.  Which is more important: your vendetta against me, or the lives of the hundred thousand people who live here?”

Flash glared up at Reverse as he tried unsuccessfully to remove the foot keeping him pinned, “I don’t care what you say now, I’ll never trust you with the lives of the people in my city.  I don’t know what you’re planning, but I won’t allow it.”

Reverse gave Flash a very pointed look, “I am faster than you.  I am stronger than you.  I am smarter than you.  What do you think that you could _possibly_ do to stop me from helping the people of this city?”  Reverse took a second to study the stubbornness in Flash’s eyes.  “Clearly, you need time to consider the aid which I offer.  I understand; it is difficult to accept help after so long of being alone.  I’ll give you time to accept my offer.”  Reverse ran away from the scene.

Back at STAR Labs, Eo removed his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose.  He was glad now that he’d created the time remnant, but he was also frustrated that Barry was being so pigheaded about this.  Still, it hadn’t been long since Reverse Flash had shown a change of heart.  Clearly, Barry required more time to come to grips with this.

***

Eo considered the irony of finally being free from that wretched wheelchair only to find himself quite literally tied to another chair.  Apparently his miraculous recovery, which they had never made a secret, wasn’t as well received by all members of the general public.  A few disgruntled men had taken the initiative to kidnap Harrison Wells, and since Eo wasn’t known to be a metahuman to the public, he had to go along with it.  Though unplanned, he realized what an opportunity this was and signaled his remnant before they took his phone away from him.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun making you pay for what you did to this city.”

It took every ounce of Eo’s control not to laugh in their faces.  As if they could truly hurt him.  He could snuff out their lives before they could blink.  He just chose not to.  They should be on their knees, thanking him for the gift of sparing their lives for this insult. 

One of them had left a cup of coffee on a table in the warehouse they’d dragged him to.  It was behind the three men who had kidnapped him, so they didn’t see when the liquid appeared to rise from the mug.

Eo smiled.

“What do you got to be smiling about, asshole?  You one of them sickos who enjoy pain,” the leader of the three asked as he stepped closer.

Eo didn’t get a chance to reply before red lightning flowed into the warehouse.  It danced around the three men before leaving them bound hand and foot to each other some meters away from where Eo sat.

Reverse stopped in front of Eo, as if contemplating what to do with him, “Harrison Wells.”

“Reverse Flash.”  Eo knew that Barry wouldn’t be too far behind his Reverse, so they had to make this look good. 

“Did they harm you?”  Reverse’s entire body vibrated, making the man in the yellow suit a blur to anyone without a connection to the Speed Force; or able to attain the vast speeds Reverse and Eo were capable of.

Eo shook his head.  He’d awoken with a minor concussion, but his healing had already taken care of that, and the split lip he’d had, “Nothing permanent.”

Barry breezed into the warehouse at speed, but stopped when he saw Reverse standing over Eo, “Let him go!”

Reverse rolled his eyes, an action lost to everyone except Eo. 

“He just saved my life, Flash,” Eo said. 

Barry looked over to the three men who were bound together, but conscious, then back to Eo and Reverse.  When he spoke, he sounded less sure than he had before, “Yeah... s-so he could take you as his own hostage!”

Reverse did a quarter turn as he stepped back, so that he was no longer directly between Barry and Eo, “As I’ve told you before, Flash: I only want to help.”

“All you do is kill,” scoffed Barry.  He took a step forward.  “Now get away from him before I make you.”

Reverse laughed at the threat and said, “Because that’s worked so well for you in the past.”  He took a few steps closer to Eo, angling for the back of the chair where the ropes were tied. 

Eo could see the microsecond that Barry decided to rush Reverse and knew that his remnant saw it to.  Before Barry had taken more than three steps, Reverse had ran behind Eo’s chair, cut the ropes binding Eo’s hands, and was several meters behind Eo. 

Barry stopped once he was between Eo and Reverse, and didn’t take his eyes off the latter as he asked, “Are you alright, Doctor Wells?”

“Yes, Flash.”  Eo rubbed at his wrists, which had suffered some bruising and were even now visibly healing.  He leaned down to untie his legs.  “Leave it, Flash.”  Once Eo was on his feet, he walked up to stand to the side behind Barry’s left shoulder.  He spoke softly enough that the would-be kidnappers couldn’t hear as he said, “Let him go, Barry.  He saved my life.  We have more pressing matters to deal with.”

Though clearly unhappy about it, Barry relaxed his stance, “I need to take them to the police.”

Eo shook his head, “No, Barry.  My phone is on the table behind us; I’ll call them and explain how Flash and Reverse Flash saved me.”

Barry spun around, clearly about to argue.  His eyes sparked with lightning, “No!!! That monster—”

“—saved my life, Flash.  The men behind us will mention him, at the very least.  I know you don’t like it, but he _did_ come to my rescue,” Eo hesitated then added, “Perhaps there is some truth to his claims of reformation.”

“Let me make this easier on you, Flash,” Reverse gave a small wave before leaving the scene.

Reverse’s exit made Barry relax completely, “I hate him.”

Eo nodded, “I know.”  Which was a shame.  It looked like Eo would have to go with Plan B after all.  He’d let his remnant know later once he was home.  In the meantime, Eo turned to retrieve his phone.

***

“While we wait for an opportunity to arise, why not try something different?”

Eo nodded thoughtfully as he ate.  He and his remnant, Reverse, were enjoying a steak diner from their favorite local restaurant while they plotted what to do next.  He took a sip of his wine before replying, “I think I know where you’re going with that, and I agree.  If helping him in battle won’t change Barry’s mind, maybe a more hands-on approach in his everyday life will.”

Reverse, now back to their original blond appearance, smirked, “I’ll start leaving him offerings tomorrow.  Our boy doesn’t eat nearly enough.”

“I concur.  Just because he eats enough to not faint doesn’t mean that he isn’t getting as much food as he should.  And we have heard Caitlin’s view on the subject.”

His remnant chuckled, “Repeatedly.  At length.  One of these days she’ll finally share them with Barry.”

“The boys care for her, but they really have no appreciation for how fierce our little Ice Queen is,” Eo shook his head at that.

“Won’t they be surprised when she comes into her powers....” Reverse and Eo both laughed.  After a few minutes where they both dedicated themselves to enjoying one of the better ways to consume beef in this time period, Reverse said, “I’ll also up my game.  Be of more help during the day when Barry’s at work, so that the city gets word of the new protector it has.  It will be more difficult for him to deny that I’ve had a change of heart if I’ve got public support behind me.”

“Or, knowing our luck, he’ll think that it’s some diabolical plot to gain sympathy before turning on him and killing everyone he loves,” Eo replied.

Reverse shrugged, “Even if Barry is that paranoid, I’ll go through with it because we have to show him we’ve changed.”

“Agreed.”

***

Knowing that Barry rarely ate adequately, Reverse made then dropped off a still-steaming platter full of eggs, potatoes, bacon, pancakes, syrup, and whipped cream, plus a carafe of orange juice.  It was waiting for Barry when the young man arrived for work, and Reverse watched from the roof across the street as Barry stared at the platter in confusion.  Barry looked around, as if waiting for someone to jump out and yell ‘surprise!’  After a minute, he hesitantly sat down and dug in.

There was enough food on the platter to feed four people, and Reverse watched with delight as Barry ate every bite, and drank all of the orange juice.  When Barry moved the tray so he could work, he found the note Reverse had left for him.  They had decided the note would be typed as to further keep his identity a mystery.

_Barry,_  
_I care about you, and feel that you don’t eat nearly enough.  I’m glad you enjoyed breakfast.  
_ _x_

Reverse hadn’t signed it, because no matter how he’d sign it, it would give the game up.  No, they decided that they’d let Barry wonder who of his loved ones was leaving him meals.  Satisfied that Barry’s appetite would be taken care of until lunchtime, Reverse ran back home to begin planning lunch.

***

Four hours later found Reverse once more sneaking a platter of food into Barry’s lab while the man himself was out to lunch.  As he left, he took with him the platter from breakfast.  Once more perched across the street, Reverse watch Barry’s confusion as he came back from lunch to a platter piled high with thick, meaty sandwiches, a six pack of soda, and a stack of homemade brownies.  Again, Barry looked around the lab before sitting down.  This time, however, he carefully peeked under the platter and found the note Reverse had left with this meal.

_Barry,_  
_I can’t always monitor what you eat, so the least I can do is ensure you have a filling lunch.  
_ _x_

Which was complete bullshit because Eo had cameras littered everywhere, but _I’ve been watching your every waking and sleeping breath, and not enough of those breaths are spent filling yourself with food_ sounded much less friendly.  Barry stared at the note for several long minutes before setting it aside with the first note and digging into the sandwiches.

Reverse smiled, pleased that Barry was eating.  He stayed until Barry polished it all off before running back home.  After work, Barry typically went to STAR Labs, so he’d leave Barry’s dinner up to his counterpart.

***

“So something weird happened at work today,” Barry said as he walked into the cortex only stop in his tracks at the sight before him.

“You mean weirder than a catering truck pulling up and setting up a buffet in the cortex?”  Cisco spun in his chair to watch Barry take in the three tables’ long buffet.  

Eo watched Barry gape at the sight for a minute then said, “They just left.  We assumed you had ordered it, but the look on your face tells me that was erroneous.”  Of course Eo had ordered the meal.  There was more than enough for Barry to eat his fill, as well as everyone else.  There might be leftovers even accounting for Barry and Eo’s appetites.

Barry walked over to where Eo sat at the computer across the room and silently handed him the two notes.

Eo read the notes, despite being aware of their contents, “I take it that these were accompanied by unexplained food?”

Barry nodded as he explained, “There was a full breakfast this morning, and a bunch of sandwiches this afternoon.  I’ve already asked Joe, and he denied knowing anything about it.  I thought maybe it was one of you guys.”

“No, man, it wasn’t us,”  Cisco pointed at the buffet with the red vine he was nibbling on.  “Can we eat this without knowing who sent it?  Cause it looks and smells amazing, and I’m starving.”

“How?  You ate three loaded burritos at lunch!” Hartley pointed out from the other side of the console.

“What?  I’m a growing boy,” Cisco was defensive, but he was also a little flushed at Hartley’s words.

Eo cleared his throat to cut off any more back and forth from the two young men.  He’d been dealing with their antics all day, and he was at his wits end. “Clearly whoever this is knows about your dietary requirements and is concerned with your food intake.  Which means…”

“…That whoever has been feeding me all day knows that I’m the Flash,” Barry groaned at that realization.  “Great.  Well, if it isn’t any of you guys, and it wasn’t Joe, I don’t know who else that it could be.  You guys are the only ones aside from…oh.”  Barry pulled out his cell phone and quickly sent a text at Felicity.

Caitlin frowned at Barry, “You really think that someone on Team Arrow could have done this?”

Barry shrugged, “Oliver _is_ a billionaire.  It’s possible.”  He didn’t look like he believed his own words, Eo observed.  Barry looked up from his phone.  “So I actually am hungry.  This should be safe to eat, right?”

“I can’t imagine why not.  I recognized the catering company that brought it; they’re known for very fine food.”  Eo waited for Barry to walk over to the buffet table, glad that none of the others decided to touch it before Barry could.

“Oh!” Barry stared down at something on the plate under the one he’d picked up.  He revealed it a moment later to be a note on a stock card that looked similar to the other two Eo was holding.

_Barry,_  
_I know that you have a long night ahead of you.  Be sure to eat at least half of this.  You need your strength for racing through the streets.  
_ _x_

Barry sighed heavily as he picked up the note and brought it over to Eo, “I guess it should have been obvious that this came from the same person, whoever this is.”

Eo hummed softly as he added the note to the two he already held, “Well, you know that the food before didn’t affect you adversely, so I would take it as a sign that it hasn’t been tampered with.  Still, it probably wouldn’t hurt to take a sample from each dish for testing, just in case.”  Not that they’d find anything.  The offerings of food were just that: food.  Eo did have the brief thought that he should confess to being behind the meals, but he didn’t want credit.  All of this was in effort to heal the rift between Flash and his Reverse; Eo taking credit would go against that.

They took samples of each dish, but then dug in.  Barry didn’t quite eat half of what was on display, but it was close.  Eo allowed himself to eat more than he might have, since he’d confided in Caitlin that his metabolism had increased.  All told, by the end of the meal there was enough leftovers for each of the other children to have another meal, but it was decided Barry would take it home for lunch tomorrow.  Barry naturally tried to protest, but Caitlin sided with Eo and finally spoke up about Barry not eating enough.

That, as they say, was that.

***

While the following week didn’t see any more buffets catered to STAR Labs in the evenings, they did see elaborate breakfasts and lunches waiting for Barry on his desk every day.  He tried setting up cameras to catch whoever it was, since they always waited until he wasn’t at his desk to deliver, but there was always a small gap of two minutes around the time the trays appeared.  Each tray was accompanied by a note that always said some variation of _I care for you, but you need to eat more_.

The source of these meals, and the notes, was a great frustration for Barry, as he expounded on at length to Eo whenever he came to the Lab.  Barry had analyzed the notes from the cardstock to the ink, but they were all common and could be bought from any office supply store.  He’d even dusted the notes and trays for fingerprints, but those had come up empty, too.  What clearly worried Barry was the fact that Felicity had gotten back to him and denied anyone from her team being behind this.

Eo, meanwhile, had noticed something that had long been a suspicion of his: Barry’s speed in the past week increased threefold.  Regular, filling meals agreed with their speedster.  It was with that evidence that he made sure Barry continued to accept the offerings, then insisted that he eat a large dinner if he didn’t at the lab.  With Caitlin backing him up, Barry couldn’t very well argue with the results.

All in all, it was a very progressive week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how some scenes just come fully formed in your brain, and it's just a matter of transcribing them? That was the scene with Poison Ivy. I woke up one day with that scene in my head. I know she doesn't pontificate as much as she typically does, but this fic is more focused on Eobard and Barry. And for the curious, my Ivy is a mix of mediums. A little bit from the 90s cartoon, a little bit from the comics.
> 
> And for those wondering what Ivy was doing in Central to begin with, it was a dare from Harley to go up against the Flash. She just didn't account for Reverse showing up instead.
> 
> Also, I just wanted to say that this chapter officially pushes this fic over 10,000 words and can I just say how amazed I am that I wrote and posted something that long? I've written longer, but this is the first time I've posted a continuous story this long. I know it's a small thing, but I'm proud of it.


	15. The Nuclear Man Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo and Barry discuss the Reverse Flash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

It was somewhere in the second week of Reverse feeding Barry when they got word that Ronnie and Martin Stein had badly injured a man.  Eo didn’t like hurting Caitlin like this, but he insisted that they hunt Ronnie down since he was proving to be harmful to the citizens of the city.  She clearly wasn’t pleased, but she agreed.

“I just want Ronnie safe,” Caitlin said before excusing herself.

Eo watched her go before turning to Barry, “And what about you?  How are you holding up?”

Barry threw up his arms before turning to lean against the table beside him, his frustration over not being able to find whoever was leaving him food quite clear, “I mean, physically, I’m doing great.  I didn’t realize I wasn’t eating enough.  I have more energy than ever before, and I can feel my speed increasing every time I run.  I just wish I knew for certain who was behind it.”

That sounded like Barry might have a theory, “You think you know who it is?”

“I know it’s not Joe or Iris, you guys have said that you didn’t do it, and Felicity swears that Oliver isn’t behind it.  The _only_ other person who knows my secret is Reverse Flash.  I just can’t figure out his angle, if it is him.  _Why_ feed me, _why_ help me get faster, stronger, better?”

Eo would have to tread carefully here, “I know you don’t want to consider it, but it might be time to accept that perhaps his claims of wanting to help you are true.  If he noticed that you weren’t at your best, and has gone out of his way to change that…think, Barry: why would someone who wants to hurt you help you improve?”

Barry’s jaw clenched before he forced himself to relax, “He wants something, I just know it.”

“Barry…”  Eo sighed as he removed his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose.  He looked across the room at Barry, affecting a weary stance he didn’t feel but knew would emphasize his point. “Our goal here has always been to rehabilitate the metahumans we go after.  Reverse Flash appears to be rehabilitating himself.  Considering his strength and speed, I don’t think that we should risk alienating him.  He’s already proved on more than one occasion that you cannot match him.”  Barry clearly wasn’t listening, so Eo tried another track.  “You want your father released, correct?  You attract more flies with honey than with vinegar, Barry; accept Reverse Flash’s assistance, stop harassing him every time he appears, and ask him as a sign of good faith to confess so that your father can be released.”

The younger man scoffed at that, “Yeah, I’m sure if I just ask nicely he’ll confess _just_ so my dad can walk free.” Barry crossed his arms.  “Have you been hearing about the ‘Yellow Flash’ running around Central?  He’s doing everything from getting kittens out of trees to putting out fires when I’m at work and can’t get away.  It’s like he knows when I’m indisposed and helps out because I can’t.”

Eo nodded, “I have.  I’ve been keeping a very close eye on his sightings.”  Closer than Barry knew.  It was good to know that Barry had heard of his remnant’s endeavors.  His phone beeped.  Caitlin was all set to leave for Martin Stein’s home.  “The van’s ready.  We’ll continue this later, but please consider what I said, Barry.  Give Reverse Flash a chance.”

“I just don’t get why you’re so set on me forgiving him,” Barry commented as he followed Eo from the cortex.

“I just want what’s best for you, Barry.  And what’s best is letting go of this pain and hate that you’ve been carrying around for the past 15 years,” Eo hit the button for the elevator then turned back to Barry.  “You’re like a son to me, Barry.  I hate seeing you in pain.”  The elevator arrived just then, giving a convenient excuse to table the conversation until a later date.  Though Eo held little hope that Barry would suddenly change his mind on the matter, stranger things had happened.


	16. The Nuclear Man Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After speaking with Clarissa Stein, Barry manages to surprise Eo

Speaking with Clarissa Stein was illuminating, to say the least.  Ronnie—or rather, Martin Stein in Ronnie’s body—had visited Clarissa not too long after the particle accelerator explosion, and if she was to be believed, he still visits from time to time to keep an eye on her.  Eo, of course, was already aware of the conditions surrounding Firestorm, but watching Caitlin and Barry piece the facts together was very satisfying.  He always enjoyed watching his children excel.

He and Caitlin decided to stake out the Stein residence in the hopes of catching Martin returning.  Barry, curiously enough, begged out of joining them. 

“I, uh…I have a date.”  Barry rubbed at the back of his neck, a clear sign he was nervous.

Eo, on the other hand, was completely flummoxed, “I…wasn’t aware that you were dating anybody, Barry.”   _How_ wasn’t Eo aware that Barry was dating anyone?  How had this gotten past him?  He had cameras _everywhere_ watching Barry’s every move.  Between his day job, and being the Flash, Barry had almost no free time; Eo designed it that way.  How could he have had the time to meet anyone without Eo being aware?  “Who is she?”

Barry turned a shade of red not often seen outside of fruit, “Uh…he, actually.  I-it’s a guy.  I met him online, a-and we’ve been texting…for the past few weeks.”

Caitlin smiled teasingly at Barry, “Barry Allen!  You should have told us!  What’s his name?  What’s he like?”

Texting.  Eo had noticed an uptick in how frequently Barry checked his phone, but had put it down to work texting him, or Iris, or Cisco.  He never _dreamed_ that Barry would show interest in anyone other than Iris West, and certainly never a _man_.  Eo was aware of Barry’s bisexuality, of course; college had been a time of experimentation for Barry.  He just never thought that Barry would pursue a man once he graduated.  It was a good thing Eo had already given up going back home, or this would have put a severe dent in the timeline he wished to return to.

“His name’s Len, and he’s…he’s such a dork.  He’s a little older than me, and he’s a huge sci-fi nerd,” Barry laughed as he looked up at the sky before looking back at Caitlin with a broad smile.  “He’s got a horrible taste for puns that is both cringe-worthy and adorable.  We click.  I think…I think we could be something.”  He sighed.  “The only problem is, is that every time we’ve set a date, either Flash stuff has come up, or his best friend, or his sister, has needed him.  We’re hoping tonight we can finally meet with no interruptions.”

“Why not exchange photos so you at least know what each other looks like?”  Caitlin frowned, confused.

Barry’s eyes darted away from Caitlin’s briefly, “Len doesn’t like having his picture taken.  He, uh, he had a rough childhood, and his dad was a dirty cop, so he’s very particular about anything that can be used to identify him.  He and his sister were put into witness protection when he father was arrested last time.”

Eo stared at Barry as he put the pieces together and prayed that he was wrong; that two plus two equaled five instead of four.  A man named ‘Len’ with a sister, and a dirty cop father…coincidence wasn’t something that Eo believed in, but just this once he hoped that was the case.  Barry could _not_ be dating Leonard Snart.  Speed Force, _please_ , don’t let Barry be dating Leonard Snart.  “Well, Barry, I wish you luck on your date tonight.  I am sure that if we need you that you can get here in a hurry.”

“Thank you, Doctor Wells,” Barry smiled at them both then motioned behind him.  “I’m gonna go.  I need to get ready.  Good luck on the stake out.”

Eo took a deep breath as he watched Barry run off.  He could deal with Barry’s romantic life later.  For now, they had Firestorm to catch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have a few headcanons that are starting to come into play. One of them is that Barry is bi. Considering how he comments on just as many attractive guys as he does attractive girls, and some of his interactions with other male characters, unless the show has Barry flat out state that he's straight (and maybe not even then), I'm rolling with it.
> 
> [EDIT: Yes, I'm editing an end note, because I actually wrote this end note out after the chapter, and completely forgot about it, so I'm now posting what I wrote, not just the summary of what I wrote. When your end note is as long as the chapter...]
> 
> Alright, here’s me on my soapbox. 
> 
> I cannot stand any of Barry’s canon girlfriends as his girlfriends. As characters, I like Linda, am ambivalent about Patty, and I love Iris. As mates for one Barry Allen, however, I think that all three are absolutely horrible. Or at least how they were written in canon was horrible. 
> 
> Linda was too pushy and not understanding enough. Patty was spineless until for no apparent reason she wasn’t, and then she was a bitch. And I have spoken at length on my dislike of Westallen (ironically in my own [Westallen fic](http://archiveofourown.org/series/706338)) because of the fact that they were raised as siblings and it grosses me out that Joe is their biggest cheerleader. 
> 
> By comparison, I ADORE Coldflash. It’s my OTP, and it’s about time I wrote it. I understand that might drive some folk off, and I’m sorry about that, but it’s going to be in this fic. So’s Hartmon. Now neither relationship is going to be a focal point of this fic, because this fic is from Eobard’s POV, but they will be present. If it ain’t your cup of tea, I’m sorry to see you go. If so, well. Like I said, it’s more background than the main thing, but it is there and hopefully I do both relationships justice. How will this affect certain episodes? Guess you'll have to wait and see. ;)


	17. The Nuclear Man Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A stakeout and a date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably one of my favorite chapters I've written, after Chapter 2 (the stadium scene). I don't know why, but it was just fun to write: both the first half, which borrows heavily from the episode, and the second half, which really doesn't.
> 
> Enjoy!

If there was one thing in this time that Eo absolutely loved, it was Big Belly Burger.  Yes, it was greasy and all kinds of unhealthy for non-speedsters, but to a speedster it was just the right mix of calories, meat, and deliciousness that it was perfect for any occasion.  Such as a stake out.  Eo pulled himself from stuffing his face long enough to ask Caitlin, “You want some of my fries?”

“No, thanks.  Why would he come back here?” Caitlin sounded lost and distracted.  Understandably so, given the circumstances.  She had arguably been hurt the most by the particle accelerator explosion.  Honestly, there were days when Eo wondered how she could even look at him, let alone work for him, knowing that he was the one who effectively murdered her fiancé.  It was a testament to her strength of character that she not only continued to work for Eo, but that she even was able to get up in the morning at all.  As she’d told Barry at the start of this: her career, her reputation, and the love of her life were stripped from her when the accelerator blew.

“Because this is his home,” Eo said as he took a bite of his burger.  He’d asked Caitlin if she’d wanted anything, but her nerves were too upset to consider food.  He motioned to the house.  “I don’t mean the actual house.  I mean Clarissa.  She’s his home.  And we all desire to go home again.  Where we feel safe.”  Eo paused as he considered how true those words were.  He wasn’t only saying them for Caitlin’s benefit, but for his own as well.  For so long, he thought his home was in the 22nd century—in the future—but he’s come to realize that his home is here with these young people he’s come to see as his children.  “Where we feel loved.”  Eo looked over at Caitlin as he continued, “Ronnie’s your home.

Caitlin shook her head sadly, “Not anymore.”

He thought about that for minute.  It was clear to him that she was lying to both him and herself.  She’d always love Ronnie.  Eo himself honestly didn’t care one way or another if Ronnie and Martin were brought in alive or dead, but Caitlin did.  She still loved Ronnie.  So Eo would help bring him in, alive.  His Caitlin deserved what happiness he could bring her; she was one of his, and he hated seeing her in pain.

With that in mind he asked, “Remember what I told you on your first day at STAR Labs?”

“‘A scientist’s work is never finished,’” Caitlin quoted.

“His work is never finished,” Eo repeated, then turned to look at Caitlin as he affected a more sincere demeanor.  “My work did this to Ronnie, did this to Martin Stein.  But it’s not finished, and it won’t be… until we bring them both home.”

Caitlin gave him a tiny half-smile, but before she could say anything else, they saw Ronnie fly up to the house.

Without taking his eyes off of where Ronnie had landed, Eo said, “So I’m assuming you have Barry on speed dial?”

***

Across town, Reverse watched as Barry smoothed down his sweater as he left the alleyway he’d run to, presumably near where he was supposed to meet his date.  When his counterpart had texted him to let him know about this date, and who it was possibly with, Reverse was just as incensed as his twin that Barry was able to hide this from them for so long.  He’d promised that while his other was on the stakeout with Caitlin that he, Reverse, would follow Barry to see who exactly their son was dating.  And to maybe give that man a piece of his mind.

Reverse watched from a nearby rooftop as Barry approached the gates of the park.  The young man looked around, obviously realizing he was running late and hoping to see someone waiting.  Barry wouldn’t be able to see him just yet from his angle, but Reverse could see the one man he had dreaded seeing across the gate.  There was a small group of teenagers between them, but it looked as if Snart had picked Barry out of the crowd—they must have described what each other would be wearing beforehand—because he began to make his way through the crowd.

He could see the exact second that Barry spotted Snart, but where Reverse had been expecting Barry to run the other way when he realized that he’d been dating Leonard Snart for two weeks, the opposite occurred.

“Len!”  Barry smiled happily as Snart broke through the crowd.  “Hey.”

Snart smiled—and wasn’t that disturbing to witness—as he reached out to place his hand on Barry’s arm.  Reverse tried not to audibly growl.  “Barry, I’m glad you could _finally_ make it.”

Barry laughed, clearly embarrassed as he rubbed at the back of his neck.  “Yeah, I’m sorry about all those other times.  I warned you in the beginning that I could be called in at a moment’s notice.”

“Yes, because the CCPD only employs one CSI and can’t possibly spare you for an evening,”  Snart said, and though his words were cutting, Snart’s expression clearly said that he was teasing.

“Yeah, about that.  I’m on call tonight, too, so I might have to cut our night short if they need me,” Barry smiled sheepishly.  “Sorry.”

Snart shook his head, “No, I understand.”  His hand trailed down Barry’s arm to take his hand.  “Come on, let’s go find a food cart.”

Barry laced their fingers together as he allowed himself to be pulled into the park, “I could eat.”

Reverse couldn’t hear anymore because they’d gone too far into the park, but he didn’t need to hear them to see Barry laughing at whatever Snart was saying, or to see Snart never once take his eyes off of Barry.  The older man wasn’t as expressive as Barry, but he was clearly just as smitten.

 _The Flash and Captain Cold, dating._   Reverse wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.  Barry knew who Snart was, that he was a criminal, a thief, and a murderer, but it wasn’t clear if Snart was aware of Barry’s identity as the Flash.  Regardless, despite what Barry had implied, they had clearly at least traded photos of one another if they knew what each other looked like before their supposed first date.

Reverse kept an eye on them throughout the evening, growing more and more outraged at what he was seeing.  Snart wasn’t good enough for Barry, why couldn’t Barry see that?  If it was just about sex, Reverse could suggest a few high class escorts he knew that his counterpart would pay to be with Barry.  He refused to entertain the idea that Barry actually _enjoyed_ Snart’s company.  Perhaps this was an elaborate honey pot?  A way to catch Snart unawares so as to arrest him, or bring him into the pipeline?

The pair had eaten and were taking a leisurely walk around the small lake in the middle of the park when Barry stopped them to reach for his phone.  Reverse watched as Barry frowned at whatever the person on the other line was saying, then he hung up and turned to Snart with an apologetic look.  Ronnie must have been sighted; good. 

Reverse watched as Barry jogged off through the crowd, waiting until he was back at the alley before speeding off.  Snart, meanwhile, stared after Barry with a thoughtfully look, then turned in the opposite direction to leave the park.  The speedster wanted to grab Snart and tell him exactly why it wasn’t a good idea to date Barry Allen, but he couldn’t risk Snart telling Barry what he’d done, and it might undo all of the good faith Reverse had been trying to build with his son.

No, Reverse would keep an eye on this relationship now that he knew it existed.  The moment Snart set a _toe_ out of line, good will or not, Reverse would make him pay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Barry, Barry, Barry...hiding an illicit affair. Tsk tsk.
> 
> But no, seriously, I had such fun writing that scene. I really need to do a fic focused solely on Coldflash one of these days. And/or maybe that scene from Barry and Len's POV. What do you think?


	18. The Nuclear Man Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo and his remnant discuss Barry's love life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a filler chapter before plot starts happening again. Filler, but necessary.

Eo removed his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose in what was quickly becoming a familiar stress-related tick.  He would facepalm, but that was beneath him.  “Leonard Snart.  Our favorite, our shining star, our _heir_ is dating Captain Cold?”

Reverse finished pouring them both drinks from the decanter he held and handed one to his twin.  “Indeed he is.  I couldn’t tell if Snart was aware that Barry’s the Flash, but Barry _does_ know who Snart is and yet....”

Eo forced himself to slowly sip his drink, to savor it, instead of knocking it back in one go like he wanted to.  “ _Why_ would Barry want to date his villain?”

“You guess is as good as mine,” Reverse swirled the scotch around the glass before taking a sip. “Telling him not to won’t work.”

“Agreed.  Barry would just dig his heels in further,” Eo stared into the fireplace as he considered this problem.  “Snart wouldn’t be easily intimidated, either.  It would give him something to hold over us, that we threatened him.  Could even drive a wedge between us and Barry.”

Reverse vibrated the hand not holding his glass briefly, then reluctantly lowered it, “It would be too much trouble to hide the body.”

“And we are trying not to murder needlessly, for Barry’s sake,” Eo said before muttering, “Unfortunately.”  He shook his head.  “No, for now we’ll sit back and feign ignorance.  Let’s see how long it takes Barry to admit who he’s dating.  One of the other children will pull it from him soon enough, and we’ll deal with it then.”

“It’s shocking how bad Barry is at keeping secrets.  He works for the police.  His foster father’s a cop, and his foster sister is a reporter.  You would think he’d have learned discretion by now.”  Reverse shook his head in disbelief.

Eo nodded in agreement, “You would think.” He tossed his glasses on the coffee table before stepping back to sit on the couch.  “We need to decide on what grand display you’re going to make to convince Barry that you’re sincere.”

Reverse walked around to sit in the opposite corner of the couch.  “It will need to be something big.”  He shared a look with his twin.  “You don’t always survive big.”

“I know,” Eo agreed with pursed lips.  “It can’t be helped.  With your sacrifice, I can finally come out of hiding and take my place at his side.”

“You didn’t catch Martin Stein tonight.”

Eo shook his head, “No, we didn’t, and on top of that he gave Barry quite a fright.”  At Reverse’s questioning look, he explained what had happened when Barry confronted Martin.  How Martin had carried Barry high into the sky, dropped him, then caught him at the last possible moment.

Reverse’s eyes narrowed, “That’s too close.”

“I agree, but I don’t believe that either Martin or Ronnie truly intended Barry harm.”  Eo sipped his drink before continuing, “Aside from scaring Barry with the fall, he never injured Barry.  Nor do I believe it was ever his intention to hurt Barry.  His attacks were always a hair off target.  That could be attributed to Martin’s lack of experience with their powers, but I don’t believe that’s the case.”

“Will you try again tomorrow?” Reverse asked.

“No, but I believe Caitlin will, and she’ll take either Barry or Cisco,” Eo frowned thoughtfully. “If Cisco is around tomorrow.  He left to help a friend with something, according to Caitlin and Barry.  We haven’t seen him since this morning.”

Reverse also frowned at this news, “None of the kids have friends aside from each other, or the Wests.”

“Exactly,” Eo looked across the couch at Reverse.  “I want you to follow him tomorrow, if he doesn’t come to the lab.  Cisco isn’t usually this reticent to share what he’s up to.”

“Agreed.”


	19. The Nuclear Man Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo worries where Cisco's gone, reassures Caitlin he'll save Ronnie, and does a little shop project with the wonder twins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's subtle, but plot happens.
> 
> Enjoy!

Eo had been correct: Caitlin and Barry, with help from Mrs. Stein, convinced Martin to come in from the cold.  Eo had to admit that he was proud of Caitlin for the emotional manipulation.  He very much doubted that Barry or Cisco would have thought of, let alone seriously considered, that as a viable way of getting Martin to stop running.

Of course now that they had Firestorm in the building, it was time to begin the real work of figuring out what had happened to Ronnie and Martin, and how to separate them.  In between Caitlin’s numerous tests, they discussed Firestorm’s fate. 

Hartley was being unusually quiet.  While not wildly verbose, Hartley typically spoke his mind more than he had since Martin had arrived.  He kept checking his phone, and Eo wondered if he knew where Cisco had disappeared to. 

Eo stepped up beside Hartley and asked quietly, “Where’s Cisco, Hartley?”

“I’m not his keeper, Harrison,” Hartley responded as he checked his phone for the seventh time in as many minutes.  “What makes you think that I know where he’s disappeared to?”

“Because you have not bothered with your phone so much in our entire acquaintance.”  Eo crossed his arms then leaned into Hartley’s space, his eyes narrowed.  “Now tell me: where is Cisco?”

Hartley held out a few seconds longer than Eo had expected him to, but finally Hartley shook his head with a sigh, “I honestly don’t know.  He won’t tell me.  All he’s said is that he’s helping Detective West with something.”

That was problematic.  Detective West was moving much sooner than Eo had anticipated.  Eo had hoped to have more time to ease Joe’s suspicions.  He’d have to move his timetable up.  If they discovered anything…  It was unlikely, but _if_ they did, then Eo needed to have Barry firmly on his side or everything could go pear shaped very quickly.

“Harrison?”

Eo shook his head at Hartley’s question, “I’m fine; just worried about Cisco.  It isn’t like him to run off without leaving some notice of how long he plans to be gone.” 

Hartley’s phone vibrated in his hand.  “Cisco says that he’s on his way back now.  He should be here within half an hour.”

“Good.  Let me know when he arrives.  I need to have a word with him about disappearing during a crisis,” Eo waited just long enough for Hartley to nod before stepping back over to the others to insert himself into the conversation.

***

Cisco did finally return yet wouldn’t tell Eo what he’d been helping Joe with.  It was frustrating, but Eo decided against forcing the issue.  These children required a delicate touch; Eo would just have to be patient with them.

Meanwhile, Caitlin made an impassioned plea for Eo to save Ronnie and Martin.  Their cells were dangerously unstable and only getting worse, yet there didn’t appear to be a way to safely stop the exothermic reaction without killing them.  Something that Caitlin was very quick to point out wasn’t on the table.  While normally such a plea would fall on deaf ears, Caitlin was one of Eo’s children, and he really couldn’t stand to see any of them cry.  Well, he could, but as long as their pain served no purpose, why bother causing it, even if by inaction?  As it stood, she had smiled more in the last half hour than she had in the last year, and he couldn’t bear to take that happiness away from her. Not again.

“I’ll come up with something, Caitlin, I promise.”

With that, Eo strode out of the cortex and into his sanctuary in order to call his twin.  “I need you to steal something for me.”

***

Once Eo had the tachyon chip from Mercury Labs, he went down to Cisco and Hartley’s lab.  Both young men were bent over their respective stations.  They looked up when he walked into the room.

“I have an idea about how we can save Ronnie.”  Eo handed Cisco the tachyon chip.  “Do you think you can use this to help me build something to stabilize him?”

Cisco turned the chip over in his hand with a thoughtful frown, “Yeah, I think so, if Hartley helps with the micro-wiring.”

Hartley smirked as he walked over to Cisco, “Why, Cisquito, are you admitting that I’m smarter than you?”

“No,” Cisco said, then he said with clear reluctance, “but you’re better with micro work than I am.  I’ll work on the casing.”

With that, Cisco handed the chip over to Hartley, who nodded as he stared at the chip, “A quantum splicer, I think.  That should regulate the exothermic reaction to something less likely to blow us all to kingdom come.”

“I’ll help Cisco with the casing,” Eo said.  As he reached for the tools he and Cisco would need, he allowed his hands to vibrate.

“Whoa!  What the what?”  Cisco jumped when he saw Eo’s hands vibrate.  He pointed at Eo, his eyes wide with shock.  “What was that?  Did you just vibrate?  You just vibrated, dude.  I mean, Doctor Wells.”

Eo sighed, as if greatly annoyed.  “That’s been happening recently.”  He hesitated, then admitted as if reluctant, “Caitlin believes that I might be a speedster, like Barry.”  He clenched his hands into fists, as if to stop them from vibrating.  “I don’t think she’s wrong.”

Hartley peered over at Eo knowingly, but he turned back to building the housing for the chip and simply said, “Imagine that.”

“Doctor Wells, that’s great!  Barry can help train you like you’ve been training Barry!”  Cisco paused.  “Wait.  You’ve been training Barry, so that doesn’t make sense.”

Eo shook his head, “We can figure that out later.  We have enough on our plate right now; we can tell Barry about this development another time.  Ronnie and Martin are our first priority.  Agreed?”

Cisco clearly wanted to explore this now, but at the mention of Ronnie he sighed, “Yeah, you’re right.  Let’s save Ronnie and Professor Stein first.  _Then_ we’re going to get you on the treadmill and see what you can do.”  Cisco turned his back on Eo, so he didn’t see the pleased smile the older man gave.


	20. The Nuclear Man Part 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo, Hartley, and Cisco worry after Barry and Caitlin after they went to save Ronnie and Martin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, final chapter of Nuclear Man. It borrows from the episode a bit. Enjoy!

“Barry!  Barry, what happened out there?  Barry!”  Eo clenched his fists, but it didn’t stop his hands from vibrating.  He could see Cisco and Hartley exchange a look on either side of him, but Eo didn’t care. 

“Are you guys okay?”  Cisco’s voice held all the worry Eo had been trying to keep from his.

Barry and Caitlin had run out to the Badlands to give Martin the quantum splicer.  Not that it appeared to work since there was an explosion not long after.  Now Eo couldn’t raise Barry on the comms, and it was taking everything in him to not run out there that instant to make sure Barry and Caitlin were okay.

After several tense minutes, Barry’s voice came over the speakers, “We’re fine!  We couldn’t get out of the blast radius, though.  The shockwave caught us.”

“All of that radiation.…”  Caitlin’s voice sounded devastated.  That was understandable; she’d just watched her fiancé blow up.

Eo sagged in his chair in relief that they were alive.  Then he pursed his lips as Caitlin reminded them of the next problem.  Barry would likely survive any radiation exposure due to his accelerated healing, but Caitlin… she hadn’t manifested as a metahuman in this timeline.  She didn’t have the accelerated healing that Killer Frost was known to have. 

They were going to lose Caitlin.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Cisco rolled his chair closer to the screen that held the readings from Barry’s suit.  “This can’t be.  The Geiger counter in the suit, it’s reading less than one millirad.”

Barry’s voice over the comms sounded just as confused Cisco’s had as he said, “But that’s normal.”

Air exploded from Eo’s lungs as relief washed over him.  Caitlin was safe.  “There’s no radiation.”

“Hopefully, Ronnie and Professor Stein survived the blast,” Hartley said after muting the comms.  “It will tear Caitlin up to lose Ronnie again.”

“If the worst happens, we’ll be there for her.”  Eo looked at the young men on either side of him. “That’s what family does.”

Cisco nodded, “Yeah, we won’t let her go through it alone a second time.”

Hartley unmuted the comms and asked, “Did it work?  Did you separate them?”

“I don’t know.”

The next few minutes were fraught with tension as the team at the labs waited for Barry and Caitlin to report what they’d found.  They all relaxed when they heard, faintly, Caitlin’s cry for Ronnie.  A minute later, Martin was requesting a change of clothes, and they knew they were in the clear.

Eo sat back with a small smile.  His family was intact.  That was all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go. So I've got all of Fallout written, but I'm going to switch up my posting days to every third day, because while I also have the next set after it finished, I want to give myself time to keep writing.
> 
> Thank you everyone who has kept up with this fic, and everyone who's reading it for the first time. You have no idea how much I appreciate you guys. I'll see you guys Wednesday!


	21. Fallout Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard learns something while spying on his children. It isn't good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, guys, I’m so, so stoked. Over 1000 hits! I seriously never thought any of my fic would reach that milestone, so thank you so much! And in another couple of chapters this fic will reach 20,000 words. While I’ve written fic longer, it’s the longest thing I’ve posted here by far, and given that I seem to have difficulty posting fic even 2000 words, I’m kind of amazed by it. So thank you, everyone, for reading this fic. 
> 
> This chapter is extra short, just a warning.
> 
> Enjoy!

Eobard sipped at his coffee.  The last few days had been something.  He stood, coffee mug in one hand, other stuffed inside his pants pocket, as he watched the feeds on the wall.  In one Caitlin and Ronnie were in a local pizzeria that was a favorite of Team Flash’s.  In another, Cisco and Hartley were together in the break room watching one of the Star Trek movies as they picked at a pile of takeout containers.  Barry stood with Joe in his lab at the CCPD talking with serious faces in the third.  It was this last feed that Eo focused on.

As he listened to their conversation, Eo’s expression grew thunderous.

Detective West and Cisco had been at Barry’s old house.  They had photos from an antique mirror of all things, and with it they had found blood samples from that night.  Blood from future Flash, and Eobard himself; not that Joe knew that.  It was enough, however, to convince Barry to follow Joe from the lab; presumably to his childhood home to look at the photos.

Eo took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down.  He didn’t feel like cleaning the shattered ceramic and spilled coffee after he threw the mug at the wall.  He was Eobard Thawne; he had better control over himself than this.  After a few more deep breaths, the urge to throw his mug passed, as did some of his anger.  He could work with this.  Detective West had circumstantial evidence at most, nothing to pin to Harrison Wells.  All he could prove is that the Reverse Flash had been there that night, not who the Reverse Flash was.

“This is inconvenient.  Gideon, it looks like we’re going to have to move up our time table.  Please let my other self know that the time for action is soon.”

“Certainly, Doctor Wells.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, I've got another fic in the works to celebrate that this fic hit 1000 views. I thought I'd have it out before this chapter dropped, but it's not quite done yet. Hopefully I'll have it out before the next chapter on Saturday.


	22. Fallout Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which time travel is discussed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one borrows a bit from the episode. I'll admit, this is one of my favorite scenes in the show, and that's a big reason it's here at all. Joe's completely lost look during the geekout was adorable.
> 
> Also, with this chapter ICHtA crests 20,000 words! OMG, I'm so excited. Am I going to keep pointing out every 10k boost? Oh fine, no, probably not. As I said previously, I just never thought when I wrote that first chapter that it would turn into this beast that it is today. And we're not even halfway through. 
> 
> So enjoy, everyone!
> 
> Enjoy!

Predictably, later that day Barry came into the cortex with Joe talking about blood spatter and time travel.

“Guys, I’m going to travel in time!”  Barry looked at the others to see if they’re as excited about this as he is.  They weren’t.

“Dude, we know.  Remember how a month ago there was another you from the future here?”  Cisco put his hand on Barry’s forehead as he leaned in close to peer into Barry’s eye.  “Do you have a concussion?”

Barry shrugged Cisco off, “No, I do _not_ have a concussion, Cisco.  I remember my future self being here.  That isn’t something I’m likely to forget.  What I mean is, this must be one of the times he—I—he meant when he said that he’d traveled in time before!”

Eo considered Barry for a minute.  Joe likely wasn’t going to let this go; he would need to come up with contingencies for the eventuality that Joe found proof that he wasn’t Harrison Wells.  Eo had to remind himself that there _was_ no way for Joe to find proof; he had disposed of the body as soon as the genetic transfer was complete.  He was concerned over nothing.

Joe, who had been standing quietly off to the side, looked between Barry and Eo in disbelief.  “Wait a minute.  You mean time travel is possible?”

“Not only possible, Detective West, but we’ve seen it before,” Eo walked behind the console to pull up video from when future Barry had been there.  “A month ago we had a visitor from about a year in the future.  He was here for a day, and then he went home.”

Joe walked up to the screen with the picture, his eyes wide, “Two Barrys, wow….  Hey, his emblem’s different.”

“Isn’t it dope?”  Cisco bounced excitedly on his toes.  “I’m working on it now.  I can’t wait to roll it out.”

Joe glanced back at Cisco then shook his head and returned his attention to the screen.  “Wait a second.  You said this was a month ago?”  He turned to face Eo and Barry.  “You mean that day he was acting all weird?”

Barry’s eyebrows raised in surprise, “So you noticed?”

“Of course I noticed, Barr.  You’re my kid; it’s my job to notice when something’s wrong.” 

A part of Eo was jealous of the look shared between Joe and Barry.  That bond of parent and child was one that Eo didn’t share with Barry yet, but he would one day.  “So yes, time travel is real and it is possible, but it’s fraught with pitfalls.”  Eo circled around the console again, then took on a stance and tone he often took back when he was just a professor at university.  “The Novikov principle of self-consistency, for example—”

“The what now?” Joe asked, clearly lost.

Hartley spoke up to explain, “If you travel back in time to change something then you end up being the causal factor for that event.”

Joe still looked confused, so Cisco spoke up with an example, “Like Terminator.” 

That cleared up Joe’s confused look. “Ah.”

Eo continued as if the interruption had never taken place, “Or is time plastic?  Is it mutable whereby any changes to the continuum could create an alternate timeline?”

Cisco, anticipating Joe’s confusion this time, interjected with, “Back to the Future.”

“Oh.” Joe pointed at Cisco. “Saw that one too.”

“‘Doc Brown.’  Tremendous picture,” Eo exclaimed, then proceeded to ignore the general ‘old people, am I right?’ looks the three younger men shared.

“It’s a shame you didn’t think to ask Barry’s future self what the answer was before he left,” Hartley said pointedly.

“Yes, well, hindsight and all that,” Eo shook his head.  “I’m clever, but even I can’t guess what the answer might be.”

“But we know someone who can,” Cisco said.  When he saw that he had the attention of the room, he continued, “Professor Stein.”

Barry was already nodding as he pushed off the console, “I’ll go ask him what he thinks.”

“Alright, well, I’ve got to get back to the station; I’m on call tonight,” Joe pulled Barry in for a hug, then waved at the rest of them before leaving.

“I’ll be back to patrol later,” Barry said before running off.

Cisco turned to Hartley and pointed at him with both hands.  “ _We_ are watching Back to the Future right now.”

Hartley turned to leave the cortex, Cisco on his heels.  “Fine, but only if we skip the second one; it’s the worst.”

“What?  No!  The second…”  Cisco’s outraged ranting faded down the hall as they got further away.

Eo smiled briefly at their banter before letting it slip away as he considered the consequences of this evening’s conversation.  Joe had tangible proof now that the Reverse Flash was at the scene, not just the hearsay of a frightened little boy.  Joe was an excellent detective, Eo would give the man that.  However, Joe didn’t possess near the intellectual prowess that Eobard did, nor the cunning and determination to do what was necessary. 

Joe wouldn’t get the opportunity to move forward with his investigation, Eo would see to that.  He hadn’t spent the past fifteen years stuck in this backwater century to have everything he’d built be brought down by an overly paranoid father with a hero complex.


	23. Fallout Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> General Eiling makes some poor life choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can guess from the summary, General Eiling finally makes an appearance. I really hope I did his brand of crazy justice.
> 
> TW: semi-graphic violence
> 
> Enjoy!

It was good to see Caitlin laughing again.  She looked so carefree now that Ronnie was back at her side. 

Reverse stood on the roof of the building across from the pizzeria where Caitlin and Ronnie were eating.  He’d just arrived, to keep an eye on Ronnie.  The military had been poking their noses where they didn’t belong for a while now, and both Reverse and Eo suspected that General Eiling was just biding his time.  The General wanted all metahumans—including the Flash—and had already proven that he would stop at nothing to get them.  Eo had heard rumblings about the military’s interest in Firestorm in the last couple of months, so here Reverse was: keeping an eye on the more important half of Firestorm.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, did the military strike.  Reverse ran down the side of the building, and into the pizzeria as the smoke cloud from the gas grenades filled the room.  He grabbed Caitlin, ran her into the alley behind the pizzeria, then returned for Ronnie.  Once both of them were out of the way, Reverse ran back inside to deal with the military team just beginning to enter the building.  He had to remind himself not to kill them; Barry wouldn’t like that.  Instead, he knocked each of them out. 

Once they were unconscious, he looked around for any more threats.  There were none.  Reverse piled the men together and tied them up with their own zip ties.  He finished just as he heard Caitlin scream from the alley.  Reverse arrived in time to watch in horror as hundreds of three inch needles fell on Barry, turning him into a pincushion.  Barry’s scream of pain would be one that would haunt Reverse for a long time.  Cisco and Hartley arrived moments later with the STAR Labs van, which distracted Eiling enough for Ronnie to punch him.  Between Ronnie and Caitlin, they got Barry into the back of the van. 

Reverse watched them drive off, glad that his children were safe, then slowly approached Eiling. 

The General had regained his feet before he noticed Reverse, “You’re him: the other one.  I’ve heard stories about you.”  General Eiling wiped the blood from his lip with a casual air.  “You follow the Flash around, when you aren’t helping little old ladies cross the street.”

A cat yowled near the mouth of the alley, but Reverse ignored it in favor of taking a step closer to Eiling.  “I’m his Reverse.”  He slowly circled the General.  “You, General Wade Eiling, have overstepped your bounds.  I don’t take kindly to people who hurt Flash.  He’s mine.”

Eiling refused to turn to follow Reverse’s progress around him.  “Yours?  What is Barry Allen to you?  Not a lover, is he?  I thought he was smitten with that young Ms. West.”

Reverse ignored the General.  He stopped walking once he was in front of the man again, studying him coldly.  He swore no more killing.  “I promised Flash that I wouldn’t kill anymore.  That part of my life is over.”  Reverse leaned in closer to Eiling as he said in a menacing tone, “However, I am certain that after they pluck those needles out of him, Barry will understand that exceptions must be made.” 

“Wha—” 

Reverse stared down dispassionately as he watched the General’s corpse slide off of his vibrating arm.  Eiling had sealed his fate when he attacked Barry; nobody was allowed to hurt the Flash and live.

A gasp from the mouth of the alley brought Reverse’s attention away from Eiling’s body.  He smiled warmly at the familiar face, and vibrated the man’s blood from his arm as he slowly walked forward.  “Well hello there.  We have much to discuss.  I promise I won’t hurt you; _you_ will never have anything to fear from _me_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so I lied when I said I’d not do cliffhangers. Sorry, not sorry.


	24. Fallout Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry does his best impression of a porcupine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations! You get this chapter a day earlier than planned due to the fact that I’ll be out of town tomorrow morning and won’t be near a computer until sometime in the afternoon, and I prefer to post these in the morning. So: a day early! However, you still have to wait until Monday for the next chapter. Sorry.
> 
> Enjoy!

“You need to hurry.  Barry’s wounds are starting to heal with fragments under his skin,” Eobard said as he watched Caitlin pull yet another needle from Barry with pursed lips.  Hearing the pained groans from the young man he loved as his own son was difficult.  His need for vengeance was strong, but he trusted that his remnant had taken care of the threat.  That was the only comfort he had as Barry gave another pained groan as Caitlin plucked one of the needles in his neck.  They were lucky none of them had hit his carotid artery or, accelerated healing or not, he might have bled out.

Cisco grimaced as he held the pan that Caitlin dropped the needles into.  “This is just like that time I stepped on a sea urchin.”  After Barry gave another grunt of pain he added, “Only much worse.”

Barry grit his teeth as Caitlin pulled out another needle.  “Just don’t pee on me.”

“You know that’s a myth, right?”  Hartley asked as he strode into the room, wearing gloves and a smock.  “And that looks very painful.  Move, Ronnie.”  He hip-checked Ronnie as he stepped up next to Caitlin.  Frowning, Hartley grabbed another pair of tweezers, and began pulling needles from Barry’s lower torso.  “It’s a shame your metabolism won’t allow us to give you anesthetic or pain medication.  This can’t be pleasant.”

Barry grunted in pain, “You have no idea.”

Caitlin scowled as she continued to pull out needles, “I’m so _stupid_.  Jason Rusch, the grad student who was helping Professor Stein with his Firestorm research, he said that the Army took all of Stein’s material when he disappeared.  I should have known it was General Eiling.”

Eo shook his head from where he watched from the foot of the bed.  “Not your fault.” He crossed one arm and held his elbow as he brought his other hand to stroke his chin.  “He still thinks you hold the keys to the ultimate human weapon, both of you,” he said to Ronnie.

“Okay.  Let’s finish this.  I gotta get to Stein’s house, Eiling’s gonna be after him, too,” Barry pointed out with a pained gasp.

“We’re plucking you as fast as we can, Barry, but it’s still going to take a while.  There are hundreds of needles in you that we have to remove,” Hartley said as he added another needle to the quickly filling pan that Cisco held.  To Caitlin, he said, “We’re probably going to have to cut the suit off of him to cut the last ones out, with as quickly as he’s healing.”

Caitlin’s lips thinned as she grasped another needle, “I know.”

“Stein’s fine,” Ronnie said with confidence.

Cisco glanced up at Ronnie before looking back down at Barry with concern.  “How do you know?”

“He’s right there.”  Ronnie turned his head to the door of the exam room, where Martin now stood.

“I don’t think Mr. Raymond and I are as distinctive as we had hoped,” the Professor said as he stepped further into the room.

Eo half-turned to look at Martin.  “We’ll exam you once we’ve finished with Barry.  Have a seat, Professor; this is going to take some time.”  Eo turned back to Barry with a frown.  “I’m going to go wash up so I can help.  The more hands we have plucking needles, the faster this will go.”

“Good idea, Doctor Wells,” Caitlin spared him a brief smile before returning her attention to the task at hand.

Eo turned to the sink to wash up.  Now was as good of a time as any for a small reveal, and it would lend credence to the thought that it was the stress of the situation that had brought it about.  With that thought in mind, he allowed himself to tap into the Speed Force so that he sped to the sink.  He grasped the edges as he came to a stop, as if unsteady on his feet.  “Whoa.”

“Doctor Wells!”  While all of the children all turned to stare at Eo in varying degrees of shock, it had been Barry who had cried out.  “You’re a speedster?”

Eo allowed himself a small smirk while his back was to everyone before schooling his face into something like sheepishness before turning to face the room.  “I suppose I am.  We can explore this development later, however.  Right now, Mr. Allen, you need our attention.”  He turned back to the sink to wash his hands.  Barry gave another pained grunt behind him.  Eo hoped that his remnant had made General Eiling’s death as painful as possible.  Nobody hurt their son and lived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never understood why Caitlin was the only one plucking the needles out of Barry. Doing so didn’t require any advanced medical knowledge; just a pair of tweezers. At the rate she was going, it must have taken over an hour to pluck him by herself, and since she was also the one to scan Martin, that means he had to have waited that entire time. Ah, the magics of editing to make time pass in a blink. Well not in this fic it doesn't. Sorry, Martin, but you get to wait an hour.


	25. Fallout Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reverse Flash has a very important chat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we finally get to see who Reverse found at the end of Chapter 23.
> 
> Enjoy.

Reverse smiled at the young woman standing in front of him.  She was clearly afraid, yet she wasn’t backing down; he could admire that.  He motioned down the alley where General Eiling’s body lay cooling, and his soldiers lay around him unconscious.  “I’m sorry that you had to see that, but I couldn’t let him go; you must understand after seeing what he did to the Flash.”

Iris West’s eyes flitted briefly down the alley before settling once more on Reverse.  “He said that Barry’s the Flash?”

Reverse nodded then gave a small sigh.  “I do wish that the General hadn’t disclosed that.  Your father didn’t want you to know.”

“My father—what do you know of my father?” Iris demanded. 

“I know that he’s a caring father who only wants what’s best for his children,” Reverse heard sirens in the distance.  “Before we continue, I believe a change of venue is in order.”  In a blink he picked Iris up and ran a mile across town, to the roof of a skyscraper, then gingerly set her down.  “Much better.  We have more privacy here.”

Iris gasped as they stopped, then looked around to get her bearings.  “Did you just—” She ran to the edge of the building and looked down before turning to face Reverse again.  “What do you want with me?”

Reverse watched her with amusement, “With you?  Not a thing.  You make Barry happy; that’s enough for me.”

Iris turned to face Reverse, frowning in confusion, “Why do you care about Barry?  You’re him, aren’t you?  The Man in Yellow Barry saw the night his mother was murdered?”

“I am,” Reverse replied with a small nod. 

“But you’re also the Yellow Flash that’s been seen helping around the city.”  She slowly approached him.

“Yes.”  He watched her, curious as to what she would do with this knowledge.  “I prefer the name Reverse Flash, for the record.”

Iris stopped when she was a handful of steps away.  “Why the change of heart?  Why help the Flash now when you murdered Barry’s mother when he was a kid?”

Reverse sighed.  He considered not explaining himself to her—he was Eobard Thawne; he owed no one save perhaps Barry an explanation—but decided that she could be a strong ally, if he could win her sympathies.  He began to pace around her as he explained, “The Flash and I have a complicated history.  Suffice to say that murdering his mother wasn’t my intent.  Since then, I found myself in a position to reflect on my actions.”  Here Reverse paused, for dramatic affect more than anything else, though he supposed that it might also appear that he was reconsidering what he was going to tell her.  “You should know that I was not alone at this point.  I’m from the future.”  He ignored her shocked gasp.  “When I traveled back in time to the year 2000, I was followed by the future Flash and…another.  The Flash and I battled inside Barry’s house, until I went to kill Barry, at which point the Flash whisked him away.  I was so enraged that I murdered his mother instead. 

“Afterward, my other pursuer locked me away to give me time to reflect upon my actions.  So I did.  I thought that I wanted to kill the Flash.  I’ve always been in his shadow.  Once I had changed the timeline, however, I realized the paradox I had created.  If the Flash never exists, then neither do I; not as I am now.  I only became the Reverse Flash because of my admiration for the Flash.  If he never became the Flash, then I would never research how to become a speedster, would never travel back in time to meet him, would never become his Reverse, and would never travel further back in time again to kill him.”

Iris waited to be sure he was done speaking before saying, “Why tell me?”

Reverse stopped pacing once he was in front of her.  “As the General noted, I’ve been helping the Flash protect this city where I can.  You must understand: I’ve had fifteen long years to contemplate my actions.  I finally came to the conclusion that this Barry Allen, this Flash, isn’t like the one that I first met.  The man I first met in the future was arrogant, cocky, and not entirely on the side of angels.  He felt that anything he did was justified because he was Good.  Barry isn’t like that.  Once I came to that realization, it was easy to set aside my hate, and so my captor released me.”  He tilted his head as he studied her.  “Why have I chosen to tell you?  Because there’s one last injustice that I need to correct, and you’re how I’m going to do it.”

Iris’ eyes widened as she realized what he meant.

***

“In other news, a new development has turned up in the case of the murder of Nora Allen.  As some of you might remember, fifteen years ago Nora Allen was discovered murdered in her home.  Her husband, Doctor Henry Allen, was found holding the murder weapon when police arrived and charged with the crime.  Doctor Allen has always maintained that he was innocent; that he was trying to save his wife, but with no other evidence of a second party in the home, it appeared to be an open and shut homicide case.” 

“The new evidence, in the form of a full confession, came to light when Central City Picture News’ Iris West was following a lead for another story.  She came across the murderer, who insisted that she record his confession.  KDCU reached out to the Central City Police Department about this development.  Captain David Singh said that they are investigating the validity of this confession.  If validated, it could lead to the release of Doctor Allen, who has spent the past fifteen years in Iron Heights Prison.  Doctor Allen’s son, Bartholomew Allen, an assistant forensic analyst with the CCPD, could not be reached for comment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I looked but couldn’t find the name of the tv station that occasionally pops up in the Flash. If you happen to know the name, please let me know so I can change it. Until that happens, I made my own.
> 
> And because I finally realized how weird it must seem that I spell out Doctor but abbreviate Mister, I write out Doctor because as a long time Doctor Who fan, to abbreviate Doctor feels like sacrilege.


	26. Fallout Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Team Flash learn surprising news

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Another day, another job well done.

Eo smiled as he watched the children laugh and carry on.  Even Caitlin joined in with some light teasing.  They were gathered in the cortex eating take out from a Japanese place they liked in National City after seeing Ronnie and Martin off to Pennsylvania.  It was decided after Firestorm had left that they would have lunch together in the lab.  Clarissa had been invited, but she’d declined. 

None of Team Flash had considered it odd when Eo had turned one of the larger screens onto the local news.  They did that sometimes, in conjunction with Cisco’s meta app, to find fires for Barry to put out.  Of course today Eo had an ulterior motive for turning the news on: his remnant had told him about his encounter with Iris the night before.  He had faith that she’d do what was right this morning.  Sure enough, the story came on the afternoon news just as a moment of quiet fell over the group.

Barry dropped the bowl of sushi he had been eating as the news report played on the screen.  He got up slowly, as if in a trance, and approached the screen.  “Oh my god, he confessed.”

Eo watched as Barry pulled out his phone to check it.  “Cisco, confirm with the CCPD, please.”

“On it,” Cisco said as he rolled over to his station.

Caitlin walked up to Barry.  “Barry?”

Barry looked up in disbelief.  “I-I didn’t feel my phone vibrating.  I have missed calls from Iris, Joe, Captain Singh, and several news outlets, including KDCU.”  He shook his head as he pocketed his phone.  “I-I-I have to go.”

“We’ll hold down the fort here, Barry.  Go.”  Eo watched as Barry ran out of the cortex.

Hartley set down his container of tempura to help Cisco hack the report filed with the CCPD.  “It looks like that other speedster, Reverse Flash, turned himself in this morning.”  He frowned at what he was reading before looking up at first Caitlin, then Eo.  “It also says that he’s confessing to the murder of US Army General Wade Eiling last night.  Iris was witness to it.”

Caitlin covered her mouth with her hand as she gasped.  “Oh my…General Eiling was a jerk, but I never…”

Eo stepped up to Caitlin to put his hand on her arm.  “Just because none of us were fans of General Eiling doesn’t mean that we wanted him murdered.”  Well, the children didn’t; Eo had toasted his double upon hearing the news.  If his remnant hadn’t done anything, Eo had had plans to introduce Wade to Grodd.

“It all looks legit.”  Cisco shook his head in disbelief as he looked up from the monitor.  “This should be enough to get Barry’s dad out of prison.  I guess Reverse Flash meant it when he said he wanted to atone for what he’d done.”

“There’s not much we can do right now other than be there for Barry when he needs us.”  Eo smiled at the three of them.  “And, of course, take Barry and his father out to celebrate when he’s released.”  Caitlin and the boys voiced their agreement, and Eo turned back to his curry beef.  This should be enough to get Joe to stop investigating the murder of Nora Allen, and any connection Harrison Wells has to it.  If the real murderer has stepped forward, then Joe has no reason to continue his investigation.  It’d really put a crimp in his plans if somehow Joe were to find the remains of the real Harrison Wells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter closes out the Fallout episode set. Yay! Things from here on out will get even further from canon as the consequences of Eo choosing not to steal the tachyon device in The Man in the Yellow Suit compound and have long-reaching effects. 
> 
> I'll be honest, before I began writing this fic, I didn't realize how much impact that trap Team Flash sets for Reverse Flash had on the rest of the season. How big of an impact, you might ask. A lot. We'll start seeing massive changes because of it later on. As if a fic around the idea that Eo has a heart to change isn't already a massive change in and of itself. 
> 
> I do hope you've enjoyed the fic. Next chapter will be up on Sunday. See you then!


	27. Interlude I Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo runs while Reverse sits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter set doesn't follow an actual episode, but takes place during the month break between Fallout and Out of Time. Just bits of plot that need to happen. Believe it or not, there is actually an actual season arcing plot to this thing, and the Interlude chapters further it.
> 
> Enjoy!

There was nothing quite like running.  It was as close as most humans could get to flying.  It was freeing in a way few things were.  The wind in your hair, the feel of your feet pounding on the ground, there was nothing like it.  Eo smiled, truly happy for the first time in years, as he ran.

“Wow, go Doctor Wells!  You just hit 600 miles an hour!”

Eo smirked at Cisco’s exclamation.  This was barely a light jog compared to the speeds he could reach, but he had to make a show of just starting out to the kids.  He was just glad that Barry was with his father helping the other man acclimate to the outside world, or he’d probably be having a fit over the fact that Eo’s lightning trail was red.  As it stood, Caitlin had already commented on it earlier.

_“Oh my god, Cisco look—his lightning’s red,” Caitlin said with worry._

_“Well, we know the Reverse Flash is rotting in a cell at the CCPD, so it must just be a coincidence.  Not that I’m saying that Doctor Wells is the Reverse Flash; that’s ridiculous.  Still, maybe we should wait to tell Barry about this.”  Cisco was clearly just as worried._

_Caitlin nodded as she said, “I agree.  This is going to freak him out.  I just hate keeping this from him.”_

_With a shake of his head, Hartley piped up, “Barry’s going to see it eventually, Caitlin; why not tell him now?  For that matter, we should tell Harrison.”_

_“Dude, have you_ seen _how Barry reacts whenever Reverse Flash shows up? This is going to serious freak him out,” Cisco shook his head definitively.  “No, we wait until we have more data.  As for telling Doctor Wells…not yet; we’ll just have to make sure Barry doesn’t see him run, for now.”_

Eo began to slow down, as if he were tiring.  He wasn’t, of course, but he needed to build this up slowly.  Once he’d slowed to a walk, he raised his arms to lace his fingers behind his head and breathed heavily.  A few minutes later, he hopped off the treadmill and walked into the connecting lab.  “Well?”  He unclipped the protective helmet Caitlin had insisted he wear for the run, then began removing the sticky sensors on his chest under the tank top he wore.

Caitlin checked her tablet then smiled at Eo, “Everything looks good.  Your vitals stayed within the norms of a speedster—of Barry.”

Cisco spun in his chair with a grin, “Man, that was amazing, Doctor Wells!  You beat Barry’s record by a hundred miles on your first run.”

Eo affected a look of surprise, “Really.  I thought I misheard you when you said I reached 600 miles an hour.”

Hartley eyed Eo thoughtfully, but all he said was, “Well done, Harrison.”

Cisco snapped his fingers before pointing at Eo.  “You’re going to need a suit—and a name!”  He seemed to remember who he was speaking to and stuttered, “I-I mean, if you want.  I just assumed you’d be joining Barry.”

“I think I need more training before I am ready to help Barry keep this city safe, but I would not mind eventually getting out there.”  Eo started to turn, but stopped to look over at Cisco. “Something in black, I think.  With silver accents.”

“You got it, Doctor Wells,” Cisco got a particular look in his eye.  “Oooo…The Doctor!”

Eo stared at Cisco, completely deadpan, “No, Cisco.”

“No, no, you’re right; I can do better than that.  Don’t worry, Doctor Wells, I won’t let you down,” Cisco got up and left the room.

After Cisco left, Eo said, “I’m going to go shower and get dressed, if you’re done with me, Doctor Snow?”

Caitlin nodded as she looked up from her tablet, “Yes, Doctor Wells, I think we’re done for now.  Thank you for agreeing to let us test your speed.”

“It needed to be done.  I’ll be back shortly,” Eo gave Caitlin and Hartley a small smile before heading to the locker rooms.

***

Sitting in jail was very dull.  Reverse sat in his suit with the cowl down and his eyes closed as he thought about his predicament.  Of course he could leave this cell any time he wished; the CCPD didn’t yet have the capability to restrain him.  That was something that his twin would need to have Cisco and Hartley work on soon.  If they were going to move the metahumans in the pipeline to Iron Heights for fair trials, the law enforcement needed a way to restrain them.  He went over several possible designs as he sat there waiting for lunch to arrive; it was nearly time.

“Come get your lunch, Reverse Flash.”

Reverse smiled before opening his eyes to stare at the detective.  “Does it really bother you to use my name, Detective?”  He stood as he spoke, and took his time walking across the cell to collect the tray from Joe.

“No one in Eddie’s family remembers an Edgar Thawne, so yeah, it bothers me to use a name that probably isn’t yours.”  As soon as Reverse took the tray, Joe crossed his arms.  Of course what Joe meant was that Reverse had given his name as Edgar Thawne, and claimed to be a distant relation of Detective Eddie Thawne.  A simple blood test would prove his claim, but they’d refrained from doing so for the time being.  Not that Joe was incorrect about Reverse giving them a name that wasn’t his, but it was necessary for the safety of his other half, should it be needed.

“Despite your polygraph tests back up my claim?”  Reverse picked up a fry from the tray to munch on.

“You’re a sociopath, Reverse, and I wouldn’t put it past you to be able to fool the polygraph.”

Reverse’s lips twitched; Joe wasn’t wrong.  He had precise control over his body, and keeping his heart rate level was a simple matter for a speedster.  Keeping it at a level that they could measure is what took concentration.  He turned to walk back to his bunk in order to eat, but raised an eyebrow at Joe when the detective remained at the bars.  “Yes?”

“I’m just imagining you being marched into Iron Heights and Henry walking out.  A good man has suffered for fifteen years because of you.  Two good men have suffered because of you.  A good woman died because of you,” Joe’s glare would probably make lesser men squirm; Reverse simply bowed his head in agreement.

“Yes, they have, which is why I am here now to atone for my transgressions against them,” he said as he took a bite of his burger and chewed for a minute before adding, “I don’t know what you expect me to say, Detective.  My confession will lead to the release of Doctor Allen; what more do you want from me?”

Joe stared at him in stony silence as Reverse ate.  Finally, he said, “When we have a way of keeping you there, you’ll be transferred to Iron Heights.  If I have anything to say about it that will be as soon as humanly possible.”

Reverse gave the detective a beatific smile, “I would expect nothing less, detective.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding Eo and Barry's speed: They don't mention the exact speeds Barry can run too often in the show, not in hard numbers. However, by this point (just after Fallout) I do believe they stated that his top range is around 500mph. If I'm wrong, please correct me. At the very least, Eo's numbers are surprising since this is supposed to be his first sustained run since he became a speedster. IIRC, Barry's starting speed was somewhere around 250mph, certainly no more than 300.


	28. Interlude I Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein the boys are given an engineering project, and Eo gets front seats to one of the greatest shows on Earth.

Later that day, Eo walked into Cisco’s workroom to find him and Hartley arguing over the specs of what was probably going to be Eo’s speedster suit.  They hadn’t noticed his entrance, so Eo took the time to peer over their shoulders.  It wasn’t a bad design, overall, except for one small thing.  “I’d like my hair covered, if you wouldn’t mind.”  He smiled when Cisco jumped in surprise; Hartley, of course, had heard him enter.  “I’d rather my hair didn’t catch on fire.”

“What can we do for you, Harrison?”  Hartley half-turned in his chair to look back at Eo.

It had taken a lot of thought, but no matter how Eo tried to spin it, keeping the metahumans in the pipeline would cause more harm than good.  He needed Barry’s trust, and he needed Joe to stop looking at him with suspicion.  “My suit can wait.  I need you two to come up with a way for the CCPD and Iron Heights to restrain and contain metahumans.  We can’t keep them in the pipeline indefinitely.”

Cisco looked relieved to hear that, which just confirmed Eo’s suspicion that the others weren’t entirely comfortable with the pipeline.  “I’ve been thinking about that, actually, and I have a few ideas if Hartley wouldn’t mind helping me.”

The flirty smile Hartley gave Cisco wasn’t a surprise, but the way Cisco blushed was.  “I’d love to give you a hand, Cisquito.”

Flustered, Cisco cleared his throat as he stood and put some space between him and Hartley.  “Right.  Um.  We’ll get right on that, Doctor Wells.”

Eo shared an amused look with Hartley, before smiling at Cisco’s fumbling.  “Thank you, Cisco.  Let me know when you have something.”  He turned to leave.

He was barely around the corner when he heard Hartley say, “If you wanted to tie me up, all you had to do was ask.”

***

Not too long after leaving the boys tinkering with the metahuman containment problem, Eo got a front row seat to the best show on Earth: Iris West tearing into Barry Allen over the latter being the Flash.

“BARTHOLOMEW HENRY ALLEN!”

Barry was in the side lab area working on something—Eo wasn’t sure what, but thought it was some advanced testing for a case for the CCPD—but at the sound of his name being yelled, he came into the cortex proper, his expression reflecting his confusion mixed with apprehension.  His eyes got comically wide and his jaw dropped as he watched Iris turn the corner and enter the cortex.  “I-Iris!  What are you doing here?”

Iris stalked right up to Barry, fire in her eyes, and slapped him hard enough to turn his head.  “What am I _doing_ here?”  She slapped him again, causing Barry to raise his arms in front of his head defensively as she continued to hit him with each uttered word.  “I had to hear from a _supervillain_ that you were the Flash!”

Barry, bless him, tried to defend himself by throwing Joe under the bus.  It didn’t work.  “Joe said—”

Her slaps took on renewed vigor.  “I don’t _care_ what our dad said!  You are your own person, Barry; you could have told me you were the Flash!  Instead, I had to learn from the Yellow Flash—sorry, _Reverse_ Flash—that you were a damned superhero!”

By this point, Iris had backed Barry up against the glass wall and he was cringing as she continued to hit him.  Of course, if Barry truly wanted to free himself from Iris, he could simply speed around her, but he seemed to have decided to allow Iris to vent at him.  “I’m sorry, Iris!  I should have told you.  I was trying to protect you, I swear!  I wanted to tell you, but—”

Iris finally seemed to be losing steam, her smacks slowing in both speed and intensity.  “No ‘buts’, Barry.  You should have told me.”  She stopped her assault on Barry, now looking tired and hurt.  “How is keeping me in the dark keeping me safe?  If I knew, then I wouldn’t have done half the things I’ve done in the last few months.  I could have been better prepared for when random metahumans decide to kidnap me because of my Flash blog, for a start.”

Barry hesitantly lowered his arms when Iris’ attack stopped.  He gave her such a look of contrition that it moved even Eo’s cold, dead heart.  “I’m really sorry, Iris.  I just…it’d kill me if anything happened to you.”

“Barry.  Dad made sure we both had self-defense training, and boxing, and I know how to handle a gun.  We’re cop kids; I’m not defenseless.”

“Yeah, but—”

Iris raised her hand to stop Barry.  “Ah-ah-ah!  No, Barry.  No ‘buts’.  You should have told me, regardless of what my father told you.  And believe me, he won’t be escaping my wrath over this.”  She sighed heavily before taking a step back from Barry, allowing him to cautiously edge his way away from the wall and around her to a more open area of the lab.  “I’m not angry at you, Barry.  I’m disappointed.”

Barry began pacing, which he only did when he was nervous and needed to blow off some energy.  “Iris…you were the first person I wanted to tell.  There have been _so_ many times that I wanted to tell you.  You’re my best friend.”  He gave her a helpless look, clearly regretting having kept Iris in the dark.  “I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”  Iris crossed her arms, but a moment later her lip twitched.  “You’re the Flash.”

He stopped pacing and hesitantly smiled, “Yeah, I am.  Uh…wanna see?”

“Sure.”

Eo watched as Barry led Iris into the treadmill room, beyond what he could hear without going to his time vault.  That was an amusing, if necessary, conversation to witness.  His other self had told Eo that he’d told Iris about Barry before turning himself into the authorities.  They had decided a while ago that she should be told, if only so that he had another ally for when he finally allowed Barry to watch him run.  Eo wasn’t nervous, no never that, but he did feel a small amount of trepidation over letting Barry see his lightning trail.  It would be the final test for if he could truly win Barry over. 

A part of Eo wished he could have told Barry the truth: that _he_ was the Reverse Flash.  Barry’s refusal to listen to reason, however, had firmly shut the door on that avenue.  Perhaps it was for the best.  Barry would never accept that the Reverse Flash had changed so completely.  Now, Eo had a fresh start with Barry as a fellow speedster.  He could help Barry in the open, as an ally and friend. 

Soon, he would have a suit with which to help Barry.  He just needed a name.  It needed to be something that would strike fear into the hearts of all who heard it, but would also inspire kinship and a sense of safety for those under his protection.  Eo had an idea, but he’d first have to prove to Barry and the others that he was, and always would be, faster than the Flash and truly the fastest man alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s something I never understood. The reason Barry’s suit is so complete is because his hair and clothes catch fire if he runs too fast (something else the show forgets when convenient). Yet Wally and Jesse’s suits let their hair out. Why doesn’t it catch on fire? I could buy that maybe Wally’s hair is too short, but Jesse’s hair is longer than Barry’s, so what gives? And don’t even get me started on how, throughout the show, Barry runs full speed without his suit and his clothes don’t catch fire. 
> 
> Because I know someone will mention this: I know that Iris isn’t abusive, and my intention isn't to make light of actual abuse. This scene is meant to be more funny than serious. I’ve always felt that if Iris had found out in any other way about Barry being the Flash, she’d have torn into him like this over it. She can be fierce when she wants to. 
> 
> Parts of that scene come from when Iris confronts Barry in 1x21, with some obvious differences since on this Earth she finds out before Eddie is kidnapped, or even learns that Barry is the Flash.
> 
> So what codename will Eo choose? Well, you’ll see.


	29. Interlude I Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Flash catch Iris up on the most important thing happening at the moment

The next day found STAR Labs full as Iris joined all four children and Eobard in hanging out.  Eo himself was working quietly, but kept an ear open to the ongoing discussion.  It appeared to be leaning toward catching Iris up on current events before eventually spiraling into Barry’s love life.  Only through long years of discipline did Eo keep his irritation at Barry’s crush hidden.

“So, Barry, how’d your date go the other night?”  Caitlin’s question was innocent enough, but sparked a strong reaction from Iris, who turned to smack Barry lightly on the arm.

“You had a date and didn’t tell me?  Who was she?  I didn’t know you were interested in anyone!”

Barry rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “Uh…it’s still kinda new.  I wanted to wait until me and Len were a bit more settled before I mentioned him.”

Iris’ eyes widened briefly before she smiled, “‘Len’, huh?  So…what’s he like?  What’d you guys do on this date you evidently had?  Was he a perfect gentleman?  Do I need to give him the shovel talk?”

Laughing at Iris’ questions, and ignoring how Cisco and Hartley were now also paying attention, Barry shrugged.  “We just went for a walk in the park.  We got some street food and…just talked.  He was a gentleman, I promise.  You don’t need to give him the shovel talk just yet—though I’m not sure I’d want you two meeting.  I get the feeling that you and Len would get along like a house on fire.  I mean he’s…and you’re…”

“Did this paragon of masculinity kiss you goodnight?”  Anticipating the looks from Cisco and Barry, Hartley said defensively, “I’m not getting any, so I have to live vicariously through you.”  He shot a heated look at Cisco, but the other man completely missed it. 

Caitlin did not, and her eyes narrowed briefly at Hartley before she turned to Barry and asked, “When’s your next date?”

Barry shrugged again then stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep from fidgeting.  “I don’t know yet.  I had to leave so abruptly the other night to help deal with Firestorm that we didn’t have time to set a date.  We’ve been texting back and forth, but nothing set in stone.”  He smiled as he thought about Len, ignoring the doe eyes Iris and Caitlin were giving him.  “I’m thinking of asking if he wants to go to the movies then maybe dinner this weekend.”

“Well, I’m happy for you Barry,” Iris hugged him.  “I’m glad you found someone.  You know, you should bring him out sometime with me and Eddie.  We can grab dinner, make it a double date.”

A panicked look briefly flitted across Barry’s face, “Ah…I’m not sure that’s…I-I mean, he, uh…it’s still so new.  I’m not sure we’re ready for double dates just yet.  Sorry.”

Eo scoffed softly in the other room.  Yes, he bet Snart meeting Detective Thawne would be a bad idea.  Barry really needed to work on his lies.

“Okay,” Iris said with a sad frown.  “It was just a thought.  Keep it in mind, for whenever you’re ready.

“I will, Iris.  And I promise that I’ll introduce you to him.  Just not any time soon, please?  I want to get my hooks in him a little more firmly before you try to scare him off.”  Barry froze before reaching in his pocket for his phone.  He smiled happily at what he saw and quickly sent a text back.  Looking up, he found his friends all staring at him with varying degrees of amusement.  “Uh…so I’m uh…I’m going to go now.”  He waved his phone.  “Len wants me to call him.”

“You go talk to lover boy, dude.  Just let him know that eventually he’ll be meeting us so we can judge if he’s worthy of your awesomeness.”  Cisco grinned around the lollypop in his mouth.

Barry face flushed as he nodded.  “Yeah, yeah, sure.  You can scare my boyfriend later.”  He was already making the call as he walked out of the cortex.  “Hey, Len.”

Iris watched Barry leave, then turned to Cisco with a small smile.  “You can tap into his phone, right?”

Cisco’s eyes widened a little bit at that, “I mean, I could look up his phone’s records to see what number he’s been texting and calling, sure, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that level of creepiness just yet.”

“Let’s save the invasion of privacy for when it’s needed,” Caitlin offered.  “So far he seems like he’s a good guy; we don’t want to scare him away from Barry.  I haven’t seen him that happy before.”

Iris sighed, “Yeah, it’s been a few years since I’ve seen him that smitten with someone.  I guess I’m just overprotective.  He’s been hurt so much.  I don’t want to see him hurt again.”

“I know, Iris, and I understand, believe me.”  Caitlin leaned against the console.  “But Barry’s a big boy; I’m sure that he can take care of himself.”

Staring out in the direction Barry had left, Iris sighed again, “I hope you’re right.”

In the side lab, Eo made note of Iris’ suggestion.  He doesn’t know why, but he was pleasantly surprised at such deviousness from the daughter of a cop.  Of course he knew who Barry was dating, and had no desire to see what lewd things that criminal texted to Barry, but that Iris might was a refreshing surprise.  He’d need to keep an eye on that one; she had balls of steel, and a fire in her that might just burn him if he didn’t handle her with the proper amount of caution.  Fire could be tamed, after all, with the right tools.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gets the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers ready*


	30. Interlude I Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard checks the future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter. I swear, soon they start getting longer. I'd have made them longer by now, but I don't want to screw with my chapter numbering system. Yes, I'm a bit self-conscious about the short chapters. I personally hate short chapters in fic, and that those are what most of this fic is made of really bothers me. Even though I'm the writer and could change them. Never said I made sense, people. 
> 
> In any case, enjoy this glimpse into the future.

With his twin in lockup at the CCPD, Eo’s activities were severely curtailed for now.  His ability to surveil in person would have to wait until Cisco finished his suit.  He still had _his_ yellow suit, but it wouldn’t do to be seen running around in it while the Reverse Flash was supposedly apprehended.

He stared at the wall of his sanctuary, his time vault, where video feeds showing his children played.  Normally, watching their activities throughout the day calmed him, and renewed his resolve to do right by them.  Not today.  Today, he was restless.  It chafed to be metaphorically chained as he was.  He could run, but he was limited in how and where until his new suit was finished.  Which was why he asked Gideon a question he hadn’t since he decided to abandon his crusade to go back to the future:

“Gideon, how does the future look?”

“The future has changed significantly, Doctor Wells.”

Eo wasn’t exactly surprised.  That’s what happened when one meddled as much as he had.  Yet when Gideon brought up the once familiar newspaper article from 2024, Eo found that he _was_ surprised.  The article itself was still written by Iris West, but the bulk of the main article was about how the Flash and his partner, one Captain Cold, had rescued the Mayor from Roscoe Hynes, not how the Flash had disappeared.  A smaller article, just visible at the bottom of the page, was the real surprise.  It stated that the hero Savitar, with assistance from Frostbite, had managed to capture the Eradicator; a metahuman villain who had been plaguing Central City for several weeks while eluding capture. 

There was a small photo just visible at the bottom of the page. “Gideon, show the photograph in the second article.” He wasn’t aware of any _hero_ named Savitar.  Savitar was the name of a villain of the Flash’s, the self-proclaimed God of Speed, and fastest of all known speedsters.  No one had ever been able to learn who Savitar was behind the silver and blue armor he wore, but he was remembered as one of Flash’s greatest foes.  Surely the timeline hadn’t changed so drastically that he was now a hero.

Gideon pulled up the photo and Eo found himself faced with a woman in a blue-grey outfit that was clearly Caitlin Snow, despite the white hair, light blue eyes, and dark blue lips.  The speedster next to her—and the man next to her was _clearly_ a speedster—wore a black suit not too dissimilar from the Flash’s, but with silver lightning bolts running up the sides of the suit, and the same silver accenting the boots, gloves, belt, and lightning bolt emblems in the center of the chest, and over his ears.  Even with the full cowl, Eo recognized himself in the speedster.

“Huh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eo taking up Savitar’s mantle was something HFE and I plotted fairly early on, because we decided Season 3 just wasn’t happening. I’m not even sure if most of Season 2 is happening. I’ll decide that once I finish Season 1 in ICHtA. But Season 3? Some events might if I get that far, but the whole Savitar arc definitely isn’t, I will state that right now. I personally love Savitar, and I cried at his reveal at the end of the season and fell in love with him more, but for story purposes he will not ever be in ICHtA. So with that taken care of, the name Savitar is up in the air, and I feel Eo would know the myth of Savitar, and he’s egotistical enough to compare himself to a god, so yes, his superhero name will be Savitar. Because Savitar is a codename and not the actual character, I won’t be adding his name to the roster. I thought about making up a new name for Eo, I honestly did, but every name I thought of was already a speed-based hero or villain. It seems that speedsters are a very common problem in the DC-verse. So I went with the best and biggest of the lot.
> 
> As for Frostbite, well, I needed a name for Caitlin that didn’t sound like a supervillain name. Good guys aren’t named Killer Frost. So yeah, Caitlin is a meta in this timeline, she just hasn’t manifested yet. Not sure when she will, but probably not in Season 1.


	31. Interlude I Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The courting rituals of two awkward males as observed by Eo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get this today instead of tomorrow because I've got to be up and out the door at a ridiculously early time tomorrow and won't have time to post this. 
> 
> Enjoy!

A couple of weeks later found Eo in Cisco’s workshop helping to build the power source for the mobile metahuman restraint device that Cisco and Hartley were building.  Cisco had been calling it the Boot, because like the boots that traffic cops used for cars it would keep metahumans in place and from accessing their powers until they could be placed inside of a containment cell in Iron Heights.  It would primarily be used by the CCPD, but Cisco had talked about keeping a couple of them on hand at the Labs just in case. 

While Eo worked on the power source, Cisco and Hartley worked on the casing and the micro-circuitry respectively.  For the most part, Eo ignored their mostly good natured bickering, but he began paying attention when Cisco let out a shocked cry.

“For real?!”  Cisco stopped what he was doing to half-turn toward Hartley in disbelief.  “ _You_ have never seen Firefly?”

“Why would I have need to watch a space western?”  Hartley continued peering through the magnifier as he worked on the circuit board in front of him.

Cisco made a pained sound, “Firefly isn’t just any old ‘space western’.  Firefly is an _experience_.  It is magical, transcendent, and a work of art.”

Eo glanced over at the boys in time to see Hartley’s brief half-smile.  Cisco wouldn’t be able to see it from his angle, and it told Eo all he needed to know about the conversation: Hartley was winding Cisco up on purpose.

Hartley’s voice didn’t reflect his amusement, however.  “Then why does it only have one season, Cisco?  If it was any good, they would have given it more than one season.”

Cisco sputtered indignantly.  “Because the forces of evil won in the fight against everything just and pure.  If Firefly sucked, it wouldn’t have gotten a full length movie released _in theaters_.” He shook his head when Hartley made to speak again.  “No, not another word.  _We_ are watching Firefly tonight.  I _will_ educate you, and you _will_ appreciate it, or I swear, by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.”

“You aren’t wearing a bonnet.”

“It’s an expression!”

Hartley had that little half-smile again as he said, “Whatever you say, Cisquito.”

As he turned back to the power source, Eo idly wondered how long it would take Cisco to realize that he and Hartley have been dating for the last month.

“How does Italian tonight sound?”

“Yeah, okay, but tomorrow let’s try the BBQ from that new place on Rainelle Street.  I’ve been craving ribs lately.”

“Of course, Cisquito, though we could get it tonight if you wish.”

“No, no, it’s fine.  I can wait a day, besides now I really want some manicotti.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I started this, I never thought I’d enjoying writing Hartmon as much as I do.


	32. Interlude I Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team learns a little more about Barry's 'Len'.

A few days later Barry came into the cortex smiling happily in a way that couldn’t mean anything good for Eo’s blood pressure.  Naturally, Cisco was all over it.

“ _Somebody’s_ happy,” Cisco said teasingly. “That right there looks like somebody got some.”

Eo’s left eye twitched.

“What?  No, Cisco!  No, it doesn’t.” The fact that Barry’s face was only a shade off from his suit did nothing to back up his denial.

“But you and Len _did_ go out last night, right?” Caitlin asked as she stepped out of the medical lab off from the cortex.

It didn’t seem possible, but Barry’s smile increased in wattage by a factor of ten. “Yeah.  We went to the movies, then dinner, and after that we went for a walk.”

Caitlin gave Barry a soft smile. “That’s so romantic!”

Hartley rolled his eyes impatiently. “Yes, yes, but did you kiss?”  At the looks that both Cisco and Caitlin gave him, Hartley shrugged. “We’re all wondering it.”

Barry laughed as he shook his head, “I don’t kiss and tell.”

“No, you don’t, and you don’t have to because your face does it for you,” Hartley pointed out with a smirk. “You keep doing it, so he must be good.” Barry turned an even brighter shade of red, which made how pale he got at Hartley’s next question all the more noticeable. “When do we get to meet him?”

Barry floundered for a few moments before shaking his head, “Guys, I can’t exactly bring him around here.”

Even Cisco rolled his eyes at that. “Dude, you’ve been dating this guy for two months now.  We can meet at Jitters, or a bar, or somewhere.” He laughed at Barry’s panicked look. “It’s almost like you don’t want us to meet him.” 

“What?  I—no, I…that is, I mean…no, of course I want you guys to meet.  Just—”

Cisco stared at Barry in surprise. “I was _joking_ , but you aren’t, are you?” His expression turned to one of hurt that had Hartley glaring at Barry. “Why don’t you want us to meet him?  Are we not cool enough for him?”

“Cisco.” Caitlin’s soft censor was at odds with her own worried look. “Barry, is everything alright between you two?  He…he treats you right, doesn’t he?”

“Give me a last name and I can ruin him,” Hartley offered as he sidled up to Cisco’s side to put a hand on his shoulder.  Cisco didn’t seem to notice how he leaned into Hartley, but Eo did.  So did Caitlin, if the quick look she shot Hartley meant anything.

Barry’s eyes widened at Hartley’s comment, but he shook his head to the group at large. “No, guys, really, it’s not—he’s not abusing me, I swear.  And it’s not you guys, I promise.  It’s just…he…he’s…he’s really paranoid, okay?  He’s gotten on the Santinis’ bad side in the past, and they’ve made life uncomfortable for him ever since.  He doesn’t like meeting new people, because he’s afraid that they either work for the Santinis, or they can be used as leverage against him.”

Hartley’s eyes widened at Barry’s explanation. “He works for the Santinis?”

Barry shook his head even as he slashed his hands through the air to negate that accusation. “ _No_.  Len absolutely does _not_ work for the Santinis.  I thought so too after he told me that, so I looked him up, and he just got in a bad spot.  He has a certain set of skills that the Santinis wanted to exploit, and he turned them down pretty harshly.  They took offense.  Honestly, I’m kind of surprised he’s let me in, but we click.” He hesitated then added, “I’m thinking of telling him that I’m the Flash.”

Eo’s eyes widened at that and he turned in his seat to stare at the young man.  That answered the question of if Snart was aware of who he was. “Barry, I’m not sure that’s wise, particularly if Len has ties to the Santinis.  If they managed to get your identity out of him, I don’t need to tell you how bad that would be.”

“Doctor Wells, with all due respect, you don’t know Len.  He wouldn’t rat me out.  He’s…he’s got this code of honor.” Barry’s earlier embarrassment was a memory as he flushed for a completely different reason; he was getting angry at the reactions he was facing, and he was clearly digging his heels in. “It’s my decision.”

“Barry, dude, look at it from our point of view: you’ve been dating this guy for maybe two months, you’ve gone on only two dates, right?  And you’re already talking about telling him your biggest secret.  You gotta understand why we’re worried, man,” Cisco pointed out, going for logic rather than an emotional plea.

Barry shook his head again, “I get it.  I do.  I just…I love him.”

Eo raised his hand to remove his glasses so that he could rub at the bridge of his nose.  Since he saw the new Central City Citizen article the other day, he feared that might be the case. “I hope for all of our sakes that you know what you are doing, Mr. Allen.”

Barry flinched at the soft rebuttal, “I promise: Len wouldn’t put any of you in danger.”

“See that he doesn’t,” Eo said as he stood from his chair and left the cortex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the first Interlude between episodes. Next up we have the time traveling duo of Out of Time and Rogue Time, which I'll be honest: they were such a blast to write. I can't wait to share them with you guys. 
> 
> As for this dust up between Barry and Eo over Len, I promise this won't be the last of it. It all comes to a head later on. ;) 
> 
> But that's enough spoilers for one day. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I will see you guys on Thursday for the first part of Out of Time, where not only does Barry find a weird case, but I finally learn that chapters can be more than 600 words long! A miracle, I know.


	33. Out of Time Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo spends some much needed quality time with his children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for good or ill, I've finally gotten over whatever mental block I had about only doing a short scene or two per chapter. From here on out, chapters are just a smidge longer. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Eobard laughed at the movie playing on the screen.  Cisco and Hartley had come to him asking if he’d like to watch one of Buster Keaton’s movies with them.  Looking to spend more time with the boys, he’d said yes.  After confirming silently with Hartley that he wouldn’t be intruding on the young man’s campaign to woo Cisco, of course.  Hartley had nodded his head that it was okay, so Eo had accepted.

“This movie is really funny,” Eo said with a laugh before eating another handful of popcorn.

“Buster Keaton.  The man was a genius,” Cisco reached for the bowl of popcorn in Hartley’s lap.  The two men were sharing a bowl, and Eo was quite certain that Cisco was a bit oblivious as to why, if Hartley’s long suffering look was any indication.

“Harrison, how is it that you haven’t seen this before?” Hartley asked before grabbing his own handful of popcorn.

Eo shrugged as his lips curled with amusement, “Must have been before my time.” 

Hartley peered at Eo over Cisco’s head as if he were a puzzle he was trying to solve.  Before he could speak, however, an alarm went off.  The younger man pushed his rolling chair over to the console with a frown. “Something’s tripped the silent alarm at the morgue.”

Cisco sighed as he reached for his phone, “I’ll let Barry know to check it out.  Man, he’s gonna be annoyed.”

“Didn’t he have a date with Len tonight?” Eo asked as he set his bowl aside to turn off the movie.  He didn’t approve of Barry dating Leonard Snart, but couldn’t argue that Barry’s mood improved whenever the younger man saw the thief.

“Exactly.  I think they were going bowling tonight,” Cisco looked up from his phone. “Alright, he’s on his—” Barry breezed in, changed into his suit, and left.  “—way.”  He moved over to the main console to monitor Barry.  “Alright, Barry, what do you see?”

_“A dead body.”_

Cisco rolled his eyes.  “Well, you _are_ in a morgue.  You need to be a bit more specific, buddy.”

_“The coroner—he’s dead.”_

The three men shared a worried look.  Who would kill the coroner?

Eo stepped up to the console to be close enough for the mic to pick up. “The police should be there shortly, Barry.  Come back here, then you can head back when they call for a CSI.”

There was a pause before Barry said, _“Yeah, okay, but I can already tell this is really weird.  Be there in a second.”_

Hartley frowned from where he stood behind Cisco, his hand casually on the other’s shoulder.  He voiced what they were all thinking, “Who would kill the coroner?”

Before anyone could respond, Barry arrived with a whirl of loose papers.  He pushed back his cowl as he answered, “A metahuman, I think.  I saw some chunks of hail around the body, but they were quickly melting.”

Though Eo knew it wasn’t the case, he still asked, “We’re sure it wasn’t Captain Cold who did this?”

Before Cisco could argue that the cold gun didn’t work like that, Barry shook his head and said vehemently, “No.  Absolutely not.” He clearly wanted to say more, but bit his tongue.

This sent a spike of dark amusement through Eo.  Of course Barry knew it wasn’t Captain Cold; he was with the man all evening.  Perhaps pushing Barry on this should be beneath Eo, but he really did not approve of Barry’s relationship with Snart.  He would take what shots he could. “You seem fairly confident of that.  Leonard Snart has killed before.”

“During heists, when necessary.  I’m telling you, this wasn’t him.  It doesn’t fit his MO!” Barry asserted fiercely.  Eo found it interesting that though Barry had never pushed back against Eo so harshly before, for Snart he would.  Their relationship might not be the passing fancy that Eo thought it was after all.

“As much as I hate to agree with Barry on this, there’s no way the cold gun did this.”  Cisco looked like he’d eaten a lemon at having to admit that.  “You said the ice looked like hail, and was already melting?” At Barry’s nod, Cisco shook his head.  “Definitely not the cold gun.  Besides the fact that he can’t form balls of ice, the ice that thing produces takes hours to melt.  _If_ those balls of ice came from it, they wouldn’t start to melt for _at least_ another four hours, and that’s outside in the middle of summer.  This time of year, it might start melting in four hours if the room is sufficiently heated, but otherwise it’s got closer to six hours at room temperature.”

Barry shot Eo a smug look at Cisco’s assurance that it wasn’t Cold behind the attack. “I’m going to change and get out of here.  Being a metahuman case, I’ll be getting a call shortly.”

“Go.” Eo watched Barry change into his civvies then dash out of the cortex. “Well, it looks like we have another metahuman on the loose.  How is your Boot coming, Cisco?  We might need it sooner rather than later.”

“The prototype is ready to roll.  I was gonna ask Barry if he’d test it with me tomorrow, but that’s just a formality.  I’m sure it’ll work.”

There was a time not too long ago that Eo would never consider what he was about to offer.  How times changed. “If you need to test it on a metahuman, why not test it on me?”

Both young men looked surprised at that.  Hartley found his voice first. “Are you sure, Harrison?  It shouldn’t hurt you, and it should only dampen your powers while you’re wearing it, but as Cisco said: we haven’t tested it before.  It might have unforeseen side effects.”

“Which you won’t know without testing it on a metahuman,” Eo pointed out. “I’m volunteering, Hartley; I’m well aware of the risks.” That said, if it had been absolutely anybody else who had created this device, Eo would absolutely _not_ be volunteering to test it.  However, he trusted both Cisco and Hartley’s work, and knew that the chance of it causing him actual harm was miniscule at best.

“Alright, let’s go.”

***

Of course it wasn’t that simple.  Once they had relocated to Cisco’s workshop, they’d had to call in Caitlin, so she could monitor Eo’s health while the Boot was on him, and they’d had to set up the sensors to monitor how the Boot was working.  All told, it took another hour before they were ready.  While the Boot could be snapped on like handcuffs to a given limb—though the neck worked best, if possible—Eo insisted that Cisco also take the time to test out the firing mechanism.  So in this case, Cisco would be aiming for his left thigh, since he flat out refused to shoot Eo in the neck with it.

“I’m ready whenever you are, Cisco,” Eo braced himself for the hit.

“It should feel like a punch to your leg, Harrison, but let us know if it feels harder than that.  When it latches on, it will automatically adjust to the size of your leg as it clamps down.  The dampening effect should be instantaneous,” Hartley explained from where he stood at one bank of monitors.

Cisco checked the Boot’s gun one last time before taking aim, “Alright. Firing in three, two, one.” 

As soon as Cisco’s countdown ended, he fired the Boot.  Eo had braced himself for it, but it still sent him staggering back a step.  Two anchor cables shot out from the sides of the Boot—a feature triggered when the device was shot from the gun—to keep him from being able to move as Eo felt it clamp down hard on his leg.  It most certainly did not feel like a punch. “Ow.  It feels like I got hit in the leg by a baseball.  It was a hard, solid impact a lot harsher than a punch.”

“Sorry.” Cisco set down the gun and walked over to inspect how the Boot was latched onto his leg. “Is it too tight?  Too loose?  Can you move at all?”

Eo shifted his left leg a little, proving that he could move the limb in the confines of the anchor cables, but no further. “It’s snug, but not too tight.  I don’t feel like I’ll lose feeling in my leg if it’s on too long.”

Cisco lightly tugged on the Boot itself, to see if it had wiggle room, then tugged on the anchor cables. “Alright,” he said as he stood, “try to use your speed.  Can you vibrate your hand?  I’m not sure you want to try running with the Boot on.”

“No, probably not,” Eo held up his right hand and attempted to vibrate it, but nothing happened.  He frowned at his hand and tried again.  And again. “I can’t.  I can feel it there, the Speed Force, but it’s like there’s a disconnect.  I know it’s there, I feel like I _should_ be able to run and move quickly, but I can’t.”

“Readings look good from over here.  The Boot’s power source is stable, and the limitation field is strong,” Hartley reported.

Caitlin concurred, “Your vitals all look good.  I was expecting it to impact your heart rate, or oxygen levels, but it doesn’t appear to be affecting them.  Your vitals still read as those of a speedster.”

“And these are reusable?” Eo watched as Cisco walked back to where Hartley stood and picked up a remote which about the size and shape of a car fob, and pressed a button.  The Boot gave a small click, and Eo felt it loosen on his leg.  It was still on his thigh, but it didn’t feel quite so snug anymore.  He tried vibrating his hand and found he could now.

“Yep, completely reusable,” Cisco confirmed before clicking the remote again. 

Eo immediately felt the Boot tighten on his thigh and his hand stopped vibrating. “Good, good.  So how does one get it off?”

Cisco hit the button again to turn the Boot off, then walked over to Eo. “There’s a small button on the side that you can only press when it’s off.” Cisco demonstrated by grabbing hold of the Boot, then pressing the button.  The inner ring of the Boot collapsed back inside the outer ring, and the anchor cables let go of the floor to retract back into the Boot itself.  Once it was all closed up, Cisco lowered the Boot down Eo’s leg and waited for him to step out of it before standing with it in his hands. “It’s that easy.  Here, gimme your arm.”

With a raised eyebrow, Eo extended his left arm.  Cisco slid the Boot up his arm and pressed the button on the side.  The inner ring extended to clamp onto his arm enough to stay on, though the anchor cables didn’t extend. “And if you use the remote, it’ll activate again.  What about applying it to the neck?” Eo asked as he studied the Boot.

“See this other switch here?” Cisco pressed the button to retract the inner ring, then flipped a small switch on the other side of the Boot.  There was another click, and the Boot opened up by part of it sliding into the other half of it. “This entire section here retracts into the main body of the Boot, and only snaps into place when the pressure pad on the opposite side in the inner ring is activated.  So you can either slide it up the arm, like I just did, or you could use the switch to put it around the metahuman’s neck, arm, or leg.  Or you could use the gun to fire it at the metahuman.  As you can see, the Boot itself is pretty big, so it should fit most metahumans.  If it doesn’t, well…”

“If it doesn’t, we’re working on a different sort of device that can be injected under the skin to work as a dampener, but the Boot should at least fit around the wrist of even the largest metahuman,” Hartley explained as he finally left the console to walk up to Cisco.

“Good work, gentlemen,” Eo smiled proudly at the boys. “Go ahead and get this to the CCPD, and work on more so they have several.  As I said before, I’d like us to keep at least one here, just in case.  How are you with the dampening cells for Iron Heights?”

“Now that we have the Boot complete, it shouldn’t take too long to convert the technology into something that can be wired around the walls of a cell to create the dampening field within it.  Or, as Hartley said, they could be injected with the dampening device someplace it would be difficult, or impossible, to remove and held in a normal prison cell,” Cisco said.

Caitlin bit her lip before she said, “I’m not sure how comfortable I am with an implantable device.  Unless it was like a birth control implant that could be easily removed, I can’t see how this would be ethical.”

Eo, of course, didn’t care either way.  So long as the bad metahumans were out of his hair and not hurting his children, he didn’t care if they lived or died.  This was clearly important to Caitlin, however, so he spoke up, “I agree.  Let’s keep the implant on the back burner just in case, but focus more on a way to dampen the inside of a cell.”

Cisco snapped his finger before pointing at Eo, “You got it, Doctor Wells.  Come on, Hartley, I have some ideas about how to make the dampening field bigger.”

Hartley rolled his eyes at Cisco ordering him around, and with smile to Eo and Caitlin, followed Cisco out, “Si, Cisquito.”

With the boys gone, Caitlin turned to Eo and asked, “Are you sure you feel okay?  No lingering feeling of weakness, or loss of speed?”

Eo tapped into the Speed Force to run around the room.  He was back where he had started from in less than a second; to Caitlin it would look like he hadn’t moved, except for the wind in the room making everything not tacked down flutter. “No, everything feels normal.  I am hungry, though.  Want me to bring back some Big Belly Burger?”

Caitlin laughed, “There are other healthy alternatives, you know.” At his disbelieving look, she shook her head. “Yes, fine, my usual if you wouldn’t mind.”

Eo tipped an invisible hat at her. “I’ll be back shortly.” There was a noticeable bounce in his step as Eo left the workshop.  With the containment problem taken care of, it wouldn’t be long before the metahumans in the pipeline could be relocated.  Perhaps then Joe would stop looking at him with suspicion.  That was likely a pipedream, but one could hope.


	34. Out of Time Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo stalks his children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot actually happens in this chapter! Yay! Also a return of creepy!Eobard. 
> 
> ICHtA has reached 2000 hits! OMG!!! I can't say much, but I'm planning something big for this, so keep an eye out. 
> 
> Enjoy everyone!

Eo frowned as he stared at the screen in front of him in the time vault, which showed Cisco and Hartley working on the device they’d use to cancel out Mark Mardon’s powers.  Barry’s news of the other Mardon brother was troubling, but it was nothing his team couldn’t overcome.  No, what had him concerned—not worried, never worried; worry was for situations beyond one’s control, and there was little outside Eo’s control—was the report Barry gave of his run toward the morgue.  That he saw his double in the Speed Force was very _concerning_.  What he’d seen was more than the speed mirage he’d suggested to Barry; he’d seen his future self traveling to the past.  _That_ was concerning.  Why would his future self be traveling back to the past again?  Eo would need to keep a careful eye on events in the near future.  His Barry had yet to travel in time, and Eo planned on putting that off as long as possible.  There were so many things that could go wrong with time travel, it just wasn’t worth it in most cases.

“Doctor Wells, I have picked up mention of Simon Stagg in conjunction with your name.  Shall I play the video?”

Curious, Eo confirmed, “Show me.”  The screen with Cisco and Hartley minimized so that one showing Iris and Barry speaking in Jitters could take its place.  Gideon played the clip from the beginning and he watched with growing consternation as Iris questioned Barry about him, and about Simon Stagg.  Clever of her; or rather Mason Bridge was clever.  He was pleased to hear Barry defend him to Iris, but that didn’t negate the problem Mason now proved to be.  Eo’s first instinct was to run to CCPN immediately to murder the nuisance, but he didn’t kill anymore; not if he couldn’t do so covertly.  It would raise far too many questions if Mason went missing after telling Iris he was suspicious of Harrison Wells.

However…if Mason’s proof went missing.  _That_ would be far less suspicious.  It was a pity that his double was locked away in the CCPD.  Eo would have to take care of this one himself.  Tonight, he would plant his monitoring equipment in CCPN, discover exactly where Mason kept his evidence, and then make it disappear.

***

A few hours later, Cisco and Hartley announced that they’d completed the device, and everyone gathered in the cortex for the unveiling.

“May I present to you the Wizard’s Wand!” Cisco picked it up and showed to everyone with a grin.

Caitlin rolled her eyes, “Subtle.  How does it work?”

Hartley answered her, “Just think of it as an active lightning rod.  You just point it up at the sky and it’ll suck up whatever energy’s floating around it like a sponge.”

Barry stepped forward and reached for the Wand as he asked, “And it’ll stop Mardon?” 

“It’ll certainly slow him down.  If there’s no atmospheric electrons available to him…”  Eo paused as they all watched Barry wield the Wand like a lightsaber.  His voice, when he resumed, was amused, “…there’s no way to control the weather.” Eo turned his attention to Cisco and Hartley with a proud smile. “Good work, Cisco, Hartley.  As always.” As Barry handed the Wand back to Cisco, Eo said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me.  I’m going to go stretch my legs.”  He left the children to go to the treadmill room.  It was something he’d been avoiding while Barry was in the Labs, but he trusted that Barry had enough on his plate at the moment to keep him from wandering down the hall.

***

After an hour of running and a quick shower, Eo checked back in with Gideon.  He’d heard the children whispering after he left the room, and he had an idea as to what it was about. “Gideon, show me the cortex after I left an hour ago.”

He stood there and watched the thirty second clip of Barry telling the three others about what Iris had said.  Eo took particular note, however, of how pensive Cisco seemed after Barry left.  Hartley soon distracted Cisco with an offer to go to the new sushi place a few blocks over, and the pair left while Caitlin went back to her lab.

Eo removed his glasses to rub his face with both hands before putting the useless bits of glass back on. “Oh Cisco, you clever boy.” It was clear that something about what Barry had said was turning wheels in Cisco’s head.  Eo wished he knew _what_ the younger man was thinking. 

“Gideon, keep me posted on what Cisco does from now on.” Eo crossed his arms as he stared frozen image of Cisco and Hartley leaving the cortex. “I don’t want any more surprises.”

“Yes, Doctor Wells.”

***

Later that day, Eo got an alert on his phone from Gideon as he was in his office doing some paperwork.  Even though the Labs were greatly reduced, there was still some bureaucratic nonsense that he had to keep up with once a month.  It was tedious, but necessary.  It, however, could wait.  This took precedent.

He typed in the commands in his computer to connect him to his surveillance network and clicked on the video that Gideon had helpfully flagged.  Eo watched as Cisco tried to talk to Caitlin about his suspicions with a mix of pride and frustration.  He was very proud that Cisco was smart enough to catch whatever he had that was setting off his brain, but Eo was also very frustrated because this would definitely impact his plans.  Killing Cisco was obviously off the table, but Eo wasn’t certain that he could confide the truth to him.  Well, a version of the truth; the backstory that he and his remnant had concocted should they both be caught.  It would hopefully keep him in Team Flash’s graces, but nothing was certain.

Another alert pinged from Gideon and he switched to the new video she had tagged.  He had to admit: he admired Cisco’s tenaciousness.  After Caitlin, he had gone to Hartley with his suspicions.  Only, where Caitlin had brushed Cisco off, Hartley hadn’t.  Eo frowned as the scene played out.

***

“—ere’s something that isn’t adding up,” Cisco said as he nibbled on his thumb, as he did when he was deep in thought.

Hartley glanced up from the complex wiring he was working on, and then frowned at what he saw.  He set down his tools to give Cisco his entire attention, “This really bothers you, Cisquito.”

Cisco rolled his eyes, “Of _course_ it bothers me, Hart.  I didn’t think much of it when Joe came to me with his suspicions, other than to state that they were insane.  What motive would Harrison Wells have for killing Barry’s mom?  But now…”

“Now that Iris has come to Barry with suspicions from someone in Picture News, it’s not so crazy,” Hartley finished. 

“Yeah.”

Hartley stared at Cisco for a minute before saying, “I never told you what I know about Harrison, did I?”

Cisco frowned at Hartley, “What you know?”

Hartley sat back from the table. “Do you know why I was fired from STAR Labs?” When Cisco shook his head, he explained, “About a week before the accelerator turned on, I found a flaw; a flaw that nearly guaranteed that the accelerator would malfunction and explode.  When I brought it up to Harrison, he fired me and had me escorted from the premises.”

Cisco stared at Hartley with wide eyes, “I never knew.”

“No one did.  He made sure to ruin my name when he fired me.  No place would touch me.  Then the accelerator exploded and I spent the next three months recovering.  Once I did, came up with the plan to attack Harrison.  I began following him a few months later, once he was out of the hospital.  He spent the bulk of his time at STAR Labs, true, but he’d go home each evening.  I have to say, it was a shock when I first saw him stand from the wheelchair and walk across the parlor.”

“Doctor Wells said he’d been walking for a while before he told us, I don’t see how that’s surprising.”

Hartley shook his head, “He said that he got feeling back in his legs after Thanksgiving.  This was in September, Cisco.  I don’t know why he lied about it before, but he was walking with no signs of difficulty back in September.”

Cisco’s eyes widened, “September?  But why…”

“Why lie about it?  I don’t know.  Something else I saw while I was watching him was that periodically there’d be red streaks leaving or arriving at his house in the middle of the night.”  Hartley picked up his tools again. “I don’t know why Harrison lied about when he healed and realized he was a metahuman, but he did.  I watched him for months before I attacked in January, and it wasn’t until the Flash appeared in October that I realized what I was seeing at Harrison’s house.”

This clearly disturbed Cisco, who had started nibbling on his thumb again. “Okay, so Doctor Wells lied about when he realized that he was a metahuman.  That’s a pretty big leap from that to him being a cold hearted killer.”

“I agree.  I’m just saying that there’s more to Harrison than he’d like us to know.” With that, Hartley bent back over the wiring he was working on. “Are you planning on helping me finish this containment unit, or are you just going to stand there fretting all day?”

***

Eo watched as Cisco smarted off to Hartley as he went to his own work station to resume working.  This was worse than he’d expected.  He’d figured out he was being watched, eventually, but that was closer to November, hence why he said he’d begun healing around Thanksgiving.  Never would he have thought that Hartley could hide himself from Eo for over two months.  He had clearly underestimated him; Eo would make certain to never do so again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I realized as I was writing this was that Hartley WOULD have done recon on Wells before he attacked in late January, and as Eo showed us in the episode The Sound and the Fury, he had no idea he was being watched. How much did canon!Hartley see? *waves at chapter* Just my stab at it. 
> 
> See you guys Wednesday!


	35. Out of Time Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eo and Caitlin go out for coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know that I'm trying to get away from shorter chapters, but this one's a short one. Old habits are hard to break, I suppose. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Though he had gotten in late the night before, Eo awoke feeling well-rested.  It was strange that the threat to his plans hadn’t disturbed his sleep.  Once upon a time, any amount of stress would cause him to toss and turn.  That was before the Speed Force, of course.  Before his first trip through time to meet his idol.  Before he learned why one should never meet those they admire.

That Flash had once said, just as things went sliding into the abyss that was his hatred for the man in red, that the trip through time had clearly snapped something in Eo’s brain.  Eo could admit that he was a different man after time travel, but he would argue that traveling through time showed him his purpose.  It gave him the drive, the motivation, the _key_ to reaching his goals.

So no, he no longer had trouble sleeping, not as he once might have.  He had spent much of the previous evening creating contingencies for the eventuality that Cisco might actually discover his secret.  There was a time when Eobard would have said that such an occurrence was impossible.  These children of his, however, seemed to thrive on overcoming the impossible.  It was one reason he was so proud of them.

It was nearly time for Eo to leave for STAR Labs when he received a call from Caitlin.  She wanted to know if he’d like to go with her to grab a cup of coffee.  He didn’t often get to spend time with any of his children outside of the Labs, let alone with Caitlin, so he agreed.  Then she insisted that he follow her inside, and that is when Eo began to suspect there was more to this little outing than she was saying. 

That suspicion was cemented when the waitress brought their coffees in mugs instead of to-go cups. “Excuse me, these were supposed to be to-go?”

“I thought…we could drink them here.  We don’t get out of the Lab very often, and I wanted to spend some time with you,” Caitlin said with a small smile, though it looked just a bit strained to his expert eye.

One day in the future Eo would need to instruct his children how to lie well.  The way she glanced at her watch was not reassuring.  She needed him out of the lab this morning for some reason, and Eo suspected that it had something to do with Cisco.  Even so, it was no hardship to spend time with Caitlin, and there was nothing Cisco could find that was truly incriminating; not anymore with his remnant rotting in a cell at the CCPD.  So Eo smiled back at Caitlin as he said, “Why not?”

Caitlin stared at her coffee mug for a minute before she finally spoke, “You know, Doctor Wells, I just—I want to thank you again for all you’ve done for Ronnie.”

Eo shook his head. “One thank-you will suffice, I’m sure.” He studied her for a minute then removed his glasses and set them on the table so that he could think properly without the useless bits of glass distracting him.  Doing so seemed to alarm Caitlin for some reason, though he couldn’t guess why.  Even Harrison Wells hadn’t been blind without his glasses, and Eo had gone on binges before the accelerator exploded where he’d forget to put the damned things on.  So it wasn’t the fact that he took them off to really see her that caused Caitlin such alarm, he thought. 

“You know, Caitlin, if Cisco were to adjust the radial velocity parameters of the STAR Labs satellite we might be able to better detect the vortex of a forming storm.” He dilated time to truly appreciate the look of profound relief on Caitlin’s face just then.  So she assumed that he was about to say something else.  _What had she expecting me to say_ , he wondered.  He let go of the Speed Force to continue, “If we could detect those air updrafts, no matter where they originate, no matter how small…”  He put his glasses back on, as he finished the thought, “…we might be able to locate Mark Mardon.”

“That’s a great idea,” she replied, still looking a bit nervous, but mostly relieved.

He stared at her unblinking as he gently said, “So why don’t we go to STAR Labs and alert Cisco?” Eo could admit that this was partly a test of Caitlin.  Would she insist on remaining, on keeping him away, or would she capitulate and allow them to return to the Labs clearly sooner than her or Cisco would have liked?

Eo wasn’t disappointed when she hesitantly said, “Let me just get these to go.” It was obviously not the answer she wanted to give, but she couldn’t think of a good reason to delay any longer.  She took their mugs to the front counter to get them switched to to-go cups.

For his part, Eo sat back and considered why Cisco would need him out of the Labs.  Cisco suspected him of something; likely the same thing Joe was pushing him and Barry towards: that Harrison Wells had a hand in killing Nora Allen.  Cisco needed proof, so perhaps he was hoping to snoop around the Labs to find that proof.  The only thing in the Labs for Cisco to find would be Eo’s sanctuary, and the chances of Cisco find that were very slim.

Suddenly Eo wondered if Hartley was in on this.  Clearly, Hartley knew of Cisco’s suspicions and had a few of his own, but was he helping Cisco scour the Labs for some evidence of wrongdoing on Eo’s part?  Cisco’s chances of finding something went up a good bit with Hartley’s help.  Not to say that Cisco couldn’t find something on his own, but Hartley was leaps and bounds above Cisco as far as raw intelligence and intuitive leaps went.

Yes, Eo was very eager to return to STAR Labs.  Though there was nothing in the time vault that Eo couldn’t spin into a positive story, it would raise far more questions than he cared to answer.  Course decided, Eo spared a final look to Caitlin’s back at the counter before running back to the Labs.  He couldn’t wait on her, and he wanted a minute to himself to find what Cisco had gotten up to while they were away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I don't write Caitlin enough, so I added this scene instead of skipping it. I'm trying to include her more, but she really...I don't know. I like Caitlin, don't get me wrong. I just forget about her with Cisco and Hartley taking up the stage.


	36. Out of Time Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He refused to believe that all of his work was for nothing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to post this chapter. It’s one of the chapters I’m proudest of. I really hope you guys enjoy Eo at his finest, most manipulative.

Eo found his sanctuary untouched, to his mild surprise.  He had half expected to find them already inside. “Gideon, show me what my boys are up to.”

“Yes, Doctor Wells.  Mr. Ramon appears to be perusing the 3D model of STAR Labs he created shortly after the particle accelerator exploded.”

Perhaps Caitlin hadn’t been trying to keep him from the Labs.  He watched as Gideon brought up the video from Cisco’s workshop.  Hartley was in his typical position bent over the back of Cisco’s chair as he pointed at the model over Cisco’s shoulder.  The snippets he could hear seemed to suggest that they had brought up the model to look for a room of similar dimensions to a prison cell, in which to test their prototype dampener.  It was obvious a few minutes later when they’d found whatever they were looking for—or weren’t looking for, rather—because both looked at the monitor in confusion.

***

“That room shouldn’t exist,” Cisco said with a frown.

Hartley leaned in closer to Cisco as he peered at the model on the screen. “That’s off of the main corridor to the accelerator; how did we never notice it?”

Cisco turned his head to say something, but stalled as he realized how close Hartley was.  After a quick glance to Hartley’s lips he turned forward again, his face bright red.  He voice sounded a little strangled as he said, “A secret door, probably, but if so it’s a damn good one.”

Hartley smirked briefly; he was clearly not unaware of where Cisco’s thought were going. “I don’t know about you, Cisquito, but I want to know what’s in that room.  What’s worth going to so much trouble to hide?”

Cisco reached for his tablet, uploaded the map, then grabbed a sensor he had.  At Hartley’s questioning look, he shrugged and said, “This should tell us if there’s a blank space behind the wall.  Come on.”

***

Eo sighed as the boys left Cisco’s workshop.  This reveal would be a hell of a lot sooner than he had expected it to be, but it couldn’t be helped. “Gideon, close the screens and show me the future.” The video from Cisco’s workshop disappeared and the newspaper from April 25th, 2024.  It still showed the article written by Iris West about how the Flash and Captain Cold saved the mayor, and a secondary article about how Savitar and Frostbite defeated the Eradicator.  At least that much hasn’t changed.

Perhaps ten minutes later, Gideon said, “Mr. Ramon and Mr. Rathaway are outside the time vault looking for a way in, Doctor Wells.”

“Thank you, Gideon.” Eo kept his back to the entrance until he heard the door open.  He turned around in time to see Cisco look around with an impressed look on his face; Hartley’s admiration was a bit more subtle, but still there.  They both paused when their eyes landed on Eo’s yellow suit, but they were quickly distracted by the rest of the room.

“Whoa.  This is some Star Trek level stuff right here,” Cisco said as the door closed behind him and Hartley.  A moment later he noticed Eo standing on the other side of the room. “Doctor Wells!  Uh…we…didn’t think you’d be here.”

Eo smiled at the two young men, noticing how Cisco was clinging to Hartley’s arm.  He tended to do that when uncertain; cling to the person nearest him.  It was an adorable trait that he was sure Hartley was enjoying, despite their trepidation. “Cisco.  Hartley.  You are two very determined young men.”

Hartley straightened his spine and subtly stepped forward so he was just a bit in front of Cisco. “Harrison, what is this?”

Looking around the room, Eo shrugged before turning his attention back on them.  “My sanctuary; my home away from home, you could say.” He took note of their lines of sight.  While Hartley kept his attention solely focused on Eobard, Cisco was staring at the screen behind Eo. “Yes, Cisco, it’s real.”

“That’s a newspaper from the future.” Cisco finally dragged his eyes from the newspaper to Eo. “Why do you have a newspaper from the future on your wall?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Cisquito: because he’s from the future.  Isn’t that right, Harrison?  If that’s your real name,” Hartley said with a pointed glance over at where Eo’s yellow suit was displayed.

Eo gave them a look that was a mix of pride and amusement. “Perceptive, Hartley.  You always were my best pupil.  Yes, I am from the future, and no, Harrison Wells is not my name.” He waved his hand at his suit. “And _that_ is not what you believe it to be.  I assure you that the Reverse Flash is still locked up at the CCPD.  I’ve been keeping an eye on him.  Gideon, show us the Reverse Flash in his cell.”

“Yes, Doctor Wells.”

He stepped aside as the newspaper article was replaced with real time video of his remnant pacing the cell he was in. “I promise you that this is real, and he is still there.”

Cisco stared at the yellow suit now that attention had been called to it. “Then why is that here?”  He turned back to Eo with a frown. “What’s going on?  Who are you really?”

Eo widened his stance and once more took on the mantel of educator as he explained the story he and his remnant had concocted. “Far in the future there were two brothers; twins.  They were as close as siblings could be, and they did everything together.  Their names were Edgar and Eobard Thawne.” He saw the boys perk up a bit at Edgar’s name; they both knew the name that Reverse Flash had claimed for his own, after all. “These brothers grew up on the stories of legends and of heroes.  Their favorite hero out of all of them was the Flash.  Oh, how they idolized the scarlet speedster.  Such was their admiration that both brothers went into the field of Chronology, with specialization on speedsters specifically.  While Eobard attained Professorship at one of the most esteemed universities for Chronological research, Edgar took a more theoretical path.  Both, however, worked hard to replicate the theoretical process that gave the Flash his speed.  You see, in the future nobody knew who the Flash was, or how he came to be other than it was through the particle accelerator explosion in 2020.  That explosion created many metahumans, the Flash among them.

“It took many long years of trial and error, but eventually the brothers found the formula.  They discovered how the Flash was created, and they tested it on themselves.  They became speedsters, and had much fun running around chasing each other.  Then one day, Edgar proposed that the brothers try to go back in time to meet their idol.  It was theoretically possible, you see; if you go fast enough, you can punch through the space-time barrier and travel through time.  The Flash was known to have done so on numerous occasions, so why couldn’t the brothers?”

Eo paused to take in how rapt his audience was with the story he was weaving, though Hartley hid it better.  He gave a small self-deprecating laugh. “They were young and foolish, and did not consider the hazards of unprotected time travel.  They went back in time, to a time when the Flash was very active in his prime.  There were consequences, unforeseen ones.  While Eobard weathered the trip relatively unharmed, Edgar was not so lucky.  The trip fractured his mind, and it broke him in a way that neither had considered possible.  Their fascination with the Flash became Edgar’s obsession.

“You know the saying ‘Never meet your heroes’?  The brothers met the Flash, after weeks of making a name for themselves saving citizens of the Central City.  The Flash’s reaction was…” He took a deep breath as he remembered the scorn and derision the Flash had met him with. “…much harsher than they had anticipated.  The Flash told the brothers that he didn’t need help protecting the city, and he wanted the brothers to leave.  He already had another speedster protégé and he didn’t need two more.  Eobard took this with reluctant agreement, but Edgar… his shattered mind could not accept that his idol didn’t want his help.  He became belligerent, and ignoring his brother swore that if the Flash wouldn’t make him his sidekick, he’d become his villain.  So Edgar became the Reverse Flash, one of the most evil of all of the Flash’s villains.”

“What about Eobard?” Cisco asked, then looked surprised that he had spoken.  It was clear that the young man, that both young men really, were drawn in by the tale Eo was spinning.

“Eobard despaired at his brother’s fall from grace, and promised the Flash that he would do everything in his power to help bring Edgar to justice.  It wasn’t enough.  Eobard was loathe to hurt his brother, so his efforts to stop Edgar failed.  The Flash had no such compunction, but Edgar was much craftier than the scarlet hero; he managed to evade capture time and time again.  It came to a head months later when, somehow, Edgar learned the Flash’s identity: Barry Allen.  He found his brother and told Eobard his plan to go back in time again to kill the Flash while he was still a child.  He thought, with his twisted mind, that his brother would help him to do this.  Eobard, of course, went to the Flash with this news and together they chased Edgar through time to the night of March 10th in the year 2000.  Edgar arrived first, followed quickly by the Flash.  The two fought violently in the parlor of the Flash’s childhood home with his mother in the center of their storm.  When young Barry came down the stairs, Edgar saw his chance and moved in for the kill.  The Flash was just a little bit quicker, however, and managed to spirit his younger self away to safety.  Enraged at being denied his prey, Edgar murdered Nora Allen then ran off to lick his wounds. 

“You see, once again time travel had not been kind to Edgar.  Instead of fracturing his mind even more, this time it fractured his connection to the Speed Force.  Edgar had the healing of a speedster, the enhanced metabolism of one, but his speed was damaged; it came in unreliable spurts.  Every time he tried to run, it sent him sprawling to the ground.  Because of this, Eobard was able to find Edgar and finally capture him.  Eobard soon found that he wasn’t completely unscathed from the dangers of time travel the second time.  While the Flash was able to return to his own time, Eobard found that he couldn’t run fast enough while carrying Edgar to do the same.  Not willing to leave his brother in the past alone and unsupervised, Eobard resigned himself to his fate as his brother’s keeper.”

Eo paused to take a breath.  Now for the part of the tale that was the most difficult to pass off as well-meaning. “Taking care of himself and his brother was difficult, but Eobard managed, somehow.  Even with all of his love for his brother, Eobard still needed a break once in a while.  He was running one evening, just stretching his legs, when he came across a horrific car accident.  A young couple of some notoriety lay in the mangled remains of their vehicle.  The woman was already dead when Eobard came across them, but the young man was not.  Eobard was shocked to realize that this was Harrison Wells, the man responsible for the particle accelerator that would create the Flash in twenty years.  The man was dying, and even if Eobard could get him to a hospital in time, there would be no saving him with the technology in that backwater time period.”

Eo forced himself to close his eyes and adopt a more worn, weary look. “Knowing that the future had been irreparably changed, and that events needed to be fixed so that the Flash was born, Eobard approached the dying man and made him an offer.  Eobard would continue Harrison’s life’s work, would ensure that he was remembered as a great man.  In return, all that Eobard asked for was a small genetic transfer so that he could take on Harrison’s likeness, and his place in life.  Harrison, being not only a man of science but an arrogant man who wanted his name to last forever, agreed.”

It was difficult to say who was more surprised when Eo opened his eyes: the boys at the tale, or Eo at the fact that they seemed to believe it. “I have worked for fifteen years to live up to my promise to Harrison Wells.”

Hartley found his voice first, of course. “So the flaw I found in the particle accelerator.  That was intentional, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, Hartley, I built the particle accelerator with the flaw purposefully in it.  I needed a way to recreate the explosion that gave the Flash his powers.  I regret the loss of life and the pain that the explosion caused, but the world needs the Flash.” Eo watched as Hartley nodded at that explanation.

Cisco hesitantly pointed out, “But you were paralyzed.  I saw the x-rays.  You were in the hospital for months.”

“I was,” Eo said with a nod. “I knew that I would need to be seen as injured by my own creation, so I created an implant to negate my metabolism for a time.  Once Barry was transferred here and I was seen as ‘sufficiently healed’, I removed it.”

“How did Reverse Flash—your brother—escape?” Hartley asked.

Eo affected an embarrassed look.  “That was, unfortunately, a bit of a miscalculation on my part.  I’ve kept Edgar locked away in a cage here for some time; another hidden room much like this one.  I thought that he was getting better, that his mind was healing, so I let him out.  He ran away and went into hiding.  He’s come out a few times to murder those who are giving me trouble—I suspect that he is behind Simon Stagg’s disappearance—but I have been unable to capture him again.  I was as surprised as all of you when he began trying to convince Barry that he had changed.  It was unexpected when he actually turned himself in, and appears to mean his reformation.  Perhaps there is something left of my brother after all.”

Cisco shook his head.  Eo was pleased to note how he was leaning into Hartley. “That’s insane.  You expect us to believe that Reverse Flash is your brother, and you just happen to have the same red lightning, and both of your suits just _happen_ to look the same?”

Though inconvenient, Eo was proud of Cisco’s skepticism. “As a great man once said: ‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’”

“You don’t get to quote Star Trek at me, Doctor Wells—Eobard Thawne— _whatever_ your name is,” Cisco said heatedly with a finger pointed at Eo.

Hartley muttered softly, “Sherlock, actually.”

“Shut up, you.  Not helping.” Cisco poked Hartley in the side before returning his attention to Eo. “But seriously, what _do_ we call you?  _If_ we believe your version of storytime, which I’m not sure that we do,” he was quick to add.

He had them.  He couldn’t believe it, but Eo had actually managed to sell that pile of bull to them.  Cisco wouldn’t be asking for his name if he didn’t believe it.  Eo smiled. “You have no idea how good it feels to hear my name again.  I used to be known as Professor Thawne; that will do for now.”

“What now, Eobard?” Of course Hartley had always enjoyed the privilege of using Eo’s given name, why would he stop now? 

“Now…now we—”

“Forgive the interruption, Professor Thawne, but a tidal wave has formed outside of the city.  If left unchecked, it will destroy the city in the next three minutes.”

“What?!” Eo spun around to stare at the screen Gideon had brought up showing the wave from the waterfront. “We’re on a _river_ in the middle of the _continent_.  How the hell is there a _tsunami_ heading toward us?” It was then he noticed the lightning racing along the beach. “He’s trying to create a vortex to dispel the wave.  I have to go.  Barry’s not fast enough.”

“I have the prototype of your suit in my secondary workroom.  Go!” Cisco pulled Hartley with him as he stepped aside to give Eo room to leave.

Eo ran from the room, grabbed the new suit Cisco had made for him, then went to the waterfront.  He fell in line with Barry briefly and activated the comm in the suit to tell him, “I’m here, Barry.  If we run counterpoint, we might have a chance of stopping this.”

“Doctor Wells?!  Can you run fast enough?” Barry shook his head. “Nevermind.  Yeah, okay, go.  We need to stop this.”  Barry huffed as he spoke, clearly pushing himself.

Eo nodded then sped past Barry, leaving the other man in his dust as he quickly overtook the other speedster.  He had to believe that they had a chance.  He refused to believe that all of his work was for nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was a ton of exposition to write. This chapter was a beast because of that, not because of its size. I’ve known for a while that that was the backstory Eo was going to feed everyone when this moment of reveal came, since there was no trap for him to murder Cisco over. Eo just better hope that the subject of speed remnants doesn’t come up any time soon.
> 
> This entire episode set was weird to write, because I knew going in that most of it would be over-written by the next episode. When this happened with The Sound and The Fury/Flash Back, I hadn't pre-plotted to have Flash Back rewrite The Sound and The Fury. I decided that on the fly as I reached the point where future!Barry showed up. This was completely plotted out, and I hope it works.


	37. Rogue Time Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry experiences deja vu, and Eobard experiences a headache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for being a day late. Yesterday was very hectic and it completely slipped my mind. I was worried that with my school schedule that I might have to slow down my posting schedule, but I think I might have to. If I do, I'll wait until Rogue Time is finished posting before implementing it.
> 
> Just a warning that you aren't imagining it and, yes, the first few paragraphs of this are copied from the start of Out of Time Part 1.
> 
> Without further ado, I present the start of Rogue Time Part 1, or as I like to think about it: Time Travel 101.

Eobard laughed at the movie playing on the screen.  Cisco and Hartley had come to him asking if he’d like to watch one of Buster Keaton’s movies with them.  Looking to spend more time with the boys, he’d said yes.  After confirming silently with Hartley that he wouldn’t be intruding on the young man’s campaign to woo Cisco, of course.  Hartley had nodded his head that it was okay, so Eo had accepted.

“This movie is really funny,” Eo said with a laugh before eating another handful of popcorn.

“Buster Keaton.  The man was a genius,” Cisco reached for the bowl of popcorn in Hartley’s lap.  The two men were sharing a bowl, and Eo was quite certain that Cisco was a bit oblivious as to why, if Hartley’s long suffering look was any indication.

“Harrison, how is it that you haven’t seen this before?” Hartley asked before grabbing his own handful of popcorn.

Eo shrugged as his lips curled with amusement, “Must have been before my time.” 

Hartley peered at Eo over Cisco’s head as if he were a puzzle he was trying to solve.  Before he could speak, however, an alarm went off.  The younger man pushed his rolling chair over to the console with a frown. “Something’s tripped the silent alarm at the morgue.”

Cisco sighed as he reached for his phone, “I’ll let Barry know to check it out.  Man, he’s gonna be annoyed.”

“Didn’t he have a date with Len tonight?” Eo asked as he set his bowl aside to turn off the movie.  He didn’t approve of Barry dating Leonard Snart, but couldn’t argue that Barry’s mood improved whenever the younger man saw the thief.

“Exactly.  I think they were going bowling tonight,” Cisco looked up from his phone. “Alright, he’s on his—” Barry breezed in, changed into his suit, and left.  “—way.”  He moved over to the main console to monitor Barry.  “Alright, Barry, what do you see?”

_“Oh boy.”_

Cisco frowned at the map.  Barry had stopped halfway to the morgue.  “Hey, what’s going on?”  When Barry didn’t answer, Cisco tried to get his attention.  “ _Dude!_ ”

_“Yeah.  Cisco, I’m here.”_

“What happened?  Why’d you stop, Barry?” Hartley asked from beside Cisco.

Eobard paused the movie absently as he watched Cisco and Hartley try to get answers.  It was unlike Barry to dawdle when an alarm had been sounded.

_“I-I just got a little disoriented.”_

“You need to make up some time, man.  You’d better hurry up,” Cisco said as he reached for the popcorn bowl Hartley had set on the table next to the monitor.

_“Hurry?  What are—?”_

Cisco rolled his eyes, “Hurry, as in, get to the morgue.”

Eo walked up behind Cisco to frown at the comm mic, his own bowl of popcorn idly in hand.  Something was wrong.  Barry sounded disoriented, lost.

_“The morgue?  But I was there yesterday.”_

Behind the two younger men, they didn’t see Eo’s eyes widen in alarm.  Suddenly Barry’s confusion made sense.  This must be the first instance where his Barry traveled back in time.  But from when?  Why?  From his confusion, it didn’t sound like it had been intentional.

Hartley and Cisco were unaware of the inner turmoil Eo was feeling, and they continued to try to get Barry to go to the morgue. “What are you talking about?  You need to get to the morgue, Barry,” Hartley said.

“Yeah, come on, you gotta go!” Cisco added.

Barry’s marker on the map started moving again, but Eo was hardly paying it any mind. “There’s something I need to see to.  I’ll be in my office if you need me.” He left the cortex before either young man could ask what was going on.

Eo made straight for the time vault, and as soon as he entered said, “Gideon, show me the future.”

“As you wish.” She brought up the article. “The future remains intact, Doctor Wells.”

He let out a sigh of relief when it remained unchanged.  So Barry’s blunder hadn’t messed with the timeline.  That was good.  Anything else, they’d deal with as it came.  Primary among the upcoming trials, however, was getting Barry to remain silent on what had happened in the future.  If his previous future counterpart was any indication, this was something Eo would need to keep a tight lid on, because Barry sure as hell wouldn’t.

***

“Clyde Mardon has a _brother_ ,” Caitlin said in awe as she stared at the mugshots on the screen.

Eo began pacing the lab as he laid out what they knew. “So both Mardon brothers survive the plane crash, and then the dark matter released by the particle accelerator explosion affects them both in the same way.”

“Virtually the same way,” Barry said in time with Eo, which had the other looking over at him in consternation.

“That’s right.” Eo turned to fully face Barry.

Barry shook his head.  He was leaning against the main console in the center of the cortex, hugging himself as he stared at the mugshots. “Only Mark’s not like Clyde at all.  He can do things that you couldn’t even imagine.”

Cisco eyed the screen thoughtfully. “You mean he’s sort of like a weather wizard?”

“Weather wizard,” Barry once again said at the same time.

Eo resisted the urge to rub his forehead in exasperation. 

“Yeah…” Cisco eyed Barry suspiciously as he slurped his slushie.  He immediately seized in pain.

“Trigeminal headache?” Both Caitlin and Barry asked, causing Caitlin to look at Barry curiously.

This couldn’t go on. “Mr. Allen.” Once he had Barry’s attention, Eo gave him a pointed look.  “A word, please?”

Barry looked at him for a long moment and then agreed, “Yeah.”

Eo lead Barry into the treadmill room and waited until Barry had closed the door before turning to him, “You ruptured the time continuum, didn’t you?  You’re experiencing temporal reversion.”

Barry’s eyes widened in surprise, then relief washed over his face. “Yeah.”

“How long?” If they were lucky, it wasn’t very long.

Barry walked closer to Eo, stammering, “A-A day and some change.  It’s like I’m living it all over again.”

Eo let his head fall with a sigh. “Well that’s good.  That means there’s not too much you could’ve messed up yet.” He finally gave in to the urge to remove his glasses and rub between his eyes.  If he weren’t a speedster, Eo was quite certain he’d be developing a headache right about now. “How did this happen?” He replaced his glasses as he looked up at Barry.

“I-I don’t know,” Barry said with a shrug, his hands flailing in front of him. “I mean, I was running faster than I’ve ever ran a-a-and—” Barry took a breath then began pacing.  “The first time I lived this day, some horrible things happened.  There was a tidal wave and—”

Eo held up his hand as he quickly interrupted Barry. “No!  Do _not_ tell me.  I do not want to know _anything_ about the future you experienced.  Nothing.”

Barry looked frustrated as he tried again, “Okay, but, Doctor Wells—”

“Barry, time is an _extremely_ fragile construct.” Eo reached for his glasses again, but stopped himself.  He really needed to break himself of that habit.  He shook his head instead as he tried his best to impress upon Barry how important this was. “ _Any_ deviation, no matter how small could result in a cataclysm.” Barry rolled his eyes at that, likely thinking that Eo was exaggerating, but he was dead serious.  This was Time Travel 101 in his time.  School children learned this. “Now here’s what you’re going to do.  _Everything_ you did before, every word you uttered, every step you took…” Barry shook his head and went to sit on the treadmill.  Eo stepped up to him.  He _had_ to get Barry to understand.  He ignored Barry as he began shaking his head.  “…you’re going to do again.  And you’re not going to tell _anyone_ this happened.”

Barry was still shaking his head helplessly, but in the end didn’t argue, despite clearly wanting to.

Eo sighed heavily. “Barry, I know this must be difficult for you, but please listen to me.  Remember when your future counterpart came back in time?  How I stopped him from speaking too much about the future?  It was for the same reason.  If you don’t follow my instructions, bad things could happen.  Do you want to see another Time Wraith?  Cisco and Hartley still haven’t finished working on their sonic gun.  We—you—would be helpless in the face of such a creature.  Do you want to go through that again?”

“No—I…” Barry brought his hands up to cover his face briefly then sighed. “No, I don’t.”

“That is why you are going to follow my instructions _to the letter_ and _not_ tell the others, or anyone else, about what you experienced.  You mustn’t try to chance the timeline, Barry.  Time _wants_ to happen, and if you try meddling with forces you have no understanding of, something worse could happen.” Eo was pleased that he finally seemed to be getting to Barry.  Good.  He hated to scare him like this, but if it kept him from screwing with the timeline even more than he already had, it was worth it. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to help Cisco and Hartley find Mardon.”


	38. Rogue Time Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Eo watched as Barry, looking very pleased with himself, turned from where Mark Mardon was banging against the glass in the pipeline. He removed his cowl as Cisco brought the blast doors down. Eo could cheerfully strangle him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now begins the real fun as Barry plays the "Lets see how long I can dance on Eo's last nerve before he murders me" game.
> 
> Enjoy!

“I’m going to break out of here, and I’m going to create a tidal wave that destroys your entire city!”

Eo watched as Barry, looking very pleased with himself, turned from where Mark Mardon was banging against the glass in the pipeline.  He removed his cowl as Cisco brought the blast doors down.  Eo could cheerfully strangle him.

“So I still don’t understand,” Hartley said from where he stood next to Cisco and Caitlin.  “ _How_ did you find him?”

“Yeah, man, not even CCPD knew where he was holed up,” Cisco added with a confused frown.

Barry shrugged, hands on his hips. “I, uh, just had a hunch.” He glanced back at Eo briefly, and Eo cursed that the other children were present, because he could only narrow his eyes in response to Barry’s claim.

Caitlin shook her head, impressed. “That’s gotta be some kind of record.”

Cisco giggled and said, “Yeah,” as he turned with Hartley to leave. “Come on, Barry, you can help us test out the Boot.”

“No, Cisquito, you have your brother’s birthday party, remember?” Hartley teasingly reminded the other man.

Cisco groaned. “But I don’t want to go, Hart.  Dante’s an ass.”

“How about I go with you?  If Dante proves to be the ass you claim, I will protect your honor by making him feel so stupid that he crawls into a hole and never comes out.” Hartley lightly bumped his shoulder against Cisco’s as they walked out.

“Yeah, okay, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

Caitlin motioned after the boys. “I’m going to go check on some tests I had running in my lab.”  She gave both Eo and Barry a smile before leaving the corridor outside of the pipeline.

Eo watched them leave, then turned on Barry.  He didn’t bother hiding how furious he was. “Do you have _any_ idea what you’ve just done?”

Barry turned to Eo, surprised that he was being chastised. “Yeah I do.  I just saved a lot of lives.” He was so arrogant that he didn’t even sound sorry that he just went against all of Eo’s careful instructions.

The elder man shook his head as he paced away from Barry.  He needed distance before he did something stupid like smack the crap out of Barry for the cheek. “I warned you not to mess with the timeline.”

“Doctor Wells, if you had just let me tell you what was going to happen, you’d understand why I did this,” Barry calmly said, as if it were Eo’s fault for not listening.

Eo growled in response as he glared at Barry. “Whatever tragedy you think you’ve just averted, time will find a way to replace it and trust me, Barry, the next one could be much worse.” He watched Barry roll his eyes again.  He couldn’t take it anymore, he had to get out of there before he really did smack Barry.  He didn’t trust himself to stop with just a smack.  The younger man backed away as Eo stormed down the corridor.  He needed to go for a run to release some energy.

***

Later, once he’d calmed down, Eo went looking for Barry and found him on the treadmill, running full speed.  A part of Eo would always enjoy watching Barry run.  This paragon of speed, though not the fastest, was the best of them, and watching him run was a study of clean lines, dynamic lightning, and elegant energy.  He watched as Barry slowed down as Eo walked up to his peripheral line of sight.

“I don’t get it,” Barry complained as he climbed off the treadmill panting. “I’m going just as fast as I did before, but I’m still here.”

Eo shifted to hold his elbow with one hand while the other stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Anything could have affected your ability to create the wormhole that lead to you repeating the day: your emotions, circumstances, cortisol levels, all of the above.” He shook his head. “Unless you recreate the circumstances surrounding the event, we’ll likely never know.” That was a bald faced lie.  Eo knew the combination that sent Barry back in time: stress, a sense of urgency, his speed, and a desire to change something.  _That_ is what sent Barry back in time.

“I mean, my adrenaline was super high since Iris and the entire city—”

“No, no, no, no details, I told you!” Eo rolled his eyes.  Why could Barry not grasp this one point?  Did he learn nothing from when his future counterpart was here?  Evidently not.  Eo paced across the room to put more space between himself and Barry; he could feel his blood pressure rising.  The younger man _refused to learn!_

“Look, I’m sorry, but Mark Mardon’s already locked up in the pipeline, and nothing bad has happened.” Barry sounded almost smug about it as he paced on the other side of the room from Eo.

“Yet,” Eo pointedly interjected with a glare.  Before Eo could continue this circular argument with Barry, Joe intruded by knocking on the door and entering the treadmill room. “Detective.”

“Hey,” Barry said in surprise.  “What are you doing here?”

Joe only had eyes for Barry, and Eo was pleased to see it was his ‘Dad face’.  Perhaps _he_ would have better luck getting Barry to listen to reason.  It was unlikely Joe was here about Barry’s time travel misadventures, but considering that the man had been working Mark Mardon’s case, it wasn’t difficult to deduce why the detective was there to chew out Barry.

“So when were you planning on telling me that you took down Mardon?”

Barry looked surprised for a moment before giving Joe that coy half-smile he did whenever he was pleased with himself. “I just haven’t had a chance yet.”

“You got sidetracked you mean.”

Barry shook his head. “No, Joe, you can’t be mad.” In any other circumstance, it would be adorable how confused Barry looked and sounded.

“I’m not mad.  But I am curious,” Joe said with a leading tone.  There was a reason this man was a detective; it wasn’t because he was blind or stupid. “I mean, you were acting so weird at the crime scene.”

“I always act weird,” was Barry’s quick reply.

“Okay, _weirder_.  In fact, it’s a kind of weird that I’ve seen before.” While Barry floundered at how to respond, including shooting an unsympathetic Eo a helpless look, Joe sighed. “Have you been time traveling again?”

Barry’s eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped in surprise. “How did you know?”

“Barr, I’m your father; you can’t lie to me.  I’ve already dealt with you once after time traveling; I know the signs now.” Joe rubbed at his forehead for a minute. “How far from the future are you from?”

“Joe…” Barry looked lost, and after a few seconds answered, “Just a day and some change.  But I had to.  You were—”

“Ah-ah-ah!!  No, Barry!  How many times must I tell you _not to give details!_ ” Eo growled from across the room. 

Barry rolled his eyes, but was stopped from answering by his phone ringing.  He answered it with a small smile while completely ignoring the two father figures in the room. “Hey, Len…oh shoot, was that…I am _so_ sorry!  I’m on my way there now.” He hung up and looked at the other two men with a shrug and a smile that were trying to be apologetic, but were just a bit too smug to pull it off. “Sorry, I got a lunch date with Len.  I gotta run,” he said just before running off in a flash of golden lightning.

Joe turned to Eo with a questioning look. “‘Len’?”

Eo’s lip twitched as he tried to hide his amusement. “I’m not certain that it’s really my place to say.”

Joe’s look changed to one that was clearly unimpressed by the evasion. “Uh huh.  And I suppose you also can’t tell me how long these ‘lunch dates with Len’ have been going on either.”

“No.” The elder speedster gave a helpless shrug as he smiled, unable to fully hide how amused he was by this turn of events.  Nothing was fiercer than a father looking into his children’s love life.  Joe digging into who Barry was dating could only end in tears, but until that point, Eo was planning on enjoying the show.

Joe nodded thoughtfully. “Right.  Well, I’m going to go surprise my baby girl with lunch and see if she’s a little more forthcoming.”

“Good luck with that, Detective.” Eo watched as Joe left.  Once he was alone, the smile dropped from his face.  Hopefully Joe’s investigation into Barry’s love life would keep the young man from trying to purposefully travel in time.  Eo was certain that someone with Barry’s complex emotional trauma would look at time travel as a way to fix everything wrong with his life.  Until Barry learned proper caution when it came to time travel, learned to not treat it as just another tool in his arsenal, Eo would need to keep a close eye on things and keep that knowledge from him.  Simply put: Barry was not emotionally mature enough to learn how to travel through time at will.  Eo knew that if left to his own devices, some traumatic event would push Barry to travel through time to change things, and in the process, he would completely rewrite the present.

Well, Barry would be doing that over Eo’s dead body.  He would take Barry’s speed from him before he allowed such a thing to occur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to reinstate that Joe Is A Good Cop. Something the show only remembers when it's convenient, and is among my long list of pet peeves.
> 
> It was so much fun writing Eo being annoyed with Barry. 
> 
> And yes, that was me once again using Eo's inner monologue to poke at canon plot points I hate. I love the show so much, but there are times I just want to facepalm over the idiocy Barry does.


	39. Rogue Time Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry gets a harsh lesson in why messing with the timeline is a bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is Spanish in this chapter. Translations are in the end notes.

Hartley sighed for the third time in ten minutes, dragging Eo’s attention away from the work he was doing. “Is something the matter, Hartley?”

He hesitated, then said, “I’ve been trying to get ahold of Cisco all day.  The last I saw him after we left Dante’s party was at a bar.  I stayed with him for a while, but I had some things I needed to do last night so I called Barry to sit with him after I left.  Now he’s not answering his phone.”

“Maybe he just drank too much; it happens sometimes.” Even as he suggested it, Eo knew that it wasn’t likely.  Cisco wasn’t one for over-indulging when it came to alcohol.  The young man had a decent tolerance for it, but excessive drinking could impact his testosterone levels and Eo knew Cisco wouldn’t ever risk that. 

“I thought so, too, but to not answer his phone all day?  It’s after two in the afternoon.” Hartley frowned worriedly as he checked his phone again.

“If we don’t hear from him in the next hour, we’ll go over to his apartment to check on him, how’s that sound?” Eo made a note to check with Gideon in the next thirty minutes.  He was sure that Cisco was just pouting, but it never hurt to be too careful.  The cameras he had installed in Cisco’s apartment would tell him easily enough what the problem was.

“Okay.  Thanks, Harrison.”

About half an hour later Barry walked in, which was strange enough.  Ever since he’d woken from his coma, he always ran in when he could.  Hartley raised an eyebrow at the slow entry. “No zipping in as usual?”

Barry shrugged. “I needed the walk.”

Eo frowned at that.  He’d left yesterday to go on a date with Snart.  Did it not go well?  Eo doubted that Barry had come to his senses over the man. “What happened?”

Barry shook his head, his hands rising up to run through his hair in frustration. “I don’t—” He paused as he very clearly changed his mind about what he was about to say.  “Len and I got breakfast this morning,” Barry trailed off at the interested look Hartley was giving him. “No, Hartley, it wasn’t like that, get your mind out of the gutter, you creep.” Barry rolled his eyes before continuing, “We were thinking of spending the day together, since I had today off, but his sister called and said that she needed him.  She was having trouble with some guy she’d picked up the night before, and needed her big brother to help her deal with him.”

Eo hadn’t been aware that Lisa Snart was back in town.  That wouldn’t do.  He’d need to look into that the next chance he got.  It was bad enough that Snart was sniffing around Barry more and more recently; they didn’t need to worry about what complications his sister might provide. “I’m sorry that your plans for today were ruined.”

“Thanks.  It’s okay, really.  Len is really close with his sister.  From what I’ve gathered, he practically raised her himself.  I knew going in that she would always come first for him.” Barry sighed then tried to smile, though it looked a little sickly. “So…where’s Cisco?”

Eo and Hartley shared a look. “We don’t know.  I’ve been trying to call him, but he’s not answering.  We were hoping you’d know where he was,” Hartley said with worry.

Barry’s continence turned from sad to alert in a heartbeat. “He didn’t come home last night?” he asked Hartley.

Hartley shook his head.  He’d been staying with Cisco since his release from the pipeline; platonically, to his frustration. “No, he didn’t.” Hartley’s eyes narrowed, anger brewing in his eyes. “I left him with you; why don’t you know where he is?”

Sheepishly, Barry rubbed at the back of his neck. “I…might have bailed on him after this girl started hitting on him.” The look he got from Hartley could have melted steel, so Barry quickly added, “She was hot, and really into him!  He was mopey and I wasn’t going to stand in between him and getting laid!”

Before Hartley could jump the console to murder Barry, Eo grabbed Hartley’s arm, but spoke to Barry, “So you don’t know where he went after you left him alone with this unknown woman?”

With a shake of his head, Barry replied, “No, I don’t.  I’m sorry!  I didn’t know Cisco wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone.”

Hartley growled at Barry, then yanked his arm away from Eo’s grasp before leaving the room.

Barry looked at Eo helplessly. “What am I missing?”

Only Barry could remain oblivious to Hartley’s interest in Cisco.  Well, Barry and Cisco.  Eo shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.  He’ll calm down.  Eventually.”  Hopefully before he did something stupid like try to sabotage Barry’s suit.

Before Barry could say anything else, his phone rang. “Hey, Joe, what’s up?” Eo watched Barry’s eyes go wide before the younger man turned his back on his mentor to say, “Wait, _Cold’s_ back in town?”

Eo looked down at the console to hide his pleased grin.  This was exactly what he’d been waiting for: Snart to get tired of playing nice and pull a job where the Flash would have to intervene.  Let Barry see that a relationship with the criminal was foolish, and he’d break it off before he got even more invested in Snart.  While Eo hated to see the other speedster in pain, this was really for the best. 

When Barry hung up from Joe in a huff, Eo smiled pointed at him. “Well, this day just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?”

***

A few hours later Barry returned to the Labs.  The first thing Hartley did upon Barry’s return was sock him in the jaw.

“Ow!  What the hell, Hartley?” Barry grabbed his jaw, staring at Hartley in shock.

Hartley pointed his finger at Barry angrily. “¡Tey voy a matar, hijo de la gran puta!  This is _your fault._ Cold has Cisco because of _you_.  If you had just stayed with him like you were supposed to, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“I-I…what…I’m sorry, Hartley.  I didn’t think—”

Hartley cut Barry off with, “That’s right, Barry, you _didn’t think_.” The engineer shook his head in disgust. “Vete a la verga culero.  You better find him, Flash, and he better be in one piece, or you won’t like what I do next.” That said, Hartley stormed from the cortex.

Caitlin walked up to Barry to inspect the bruise forming on his jaw. “I’ll just go get some ice for this.  It will help with the swelling until it heals.”

Eo walked around the console to lean back against it, his arms crossed. 

Barry looked over at Eo bitterly. “Going to yell at me too?”

Eo shook his head. “I think Hartley did enough yelling for both of us.  I _told you_ that something worse would happen.  Maybe now you’ll listen when I caution you not to mess with forces you don’t understand.” He pushed off the console to walk back around it. 

It was the work of minutes to find the CCTV video that showed Cisco getting into a car with a woman.  By the time Eo picked up a tablet to control the video from as it showed up on the screen, Caitlin had given Barry an ice pack for his jaw.  Eo walked back around to lean against the front of the console. “So there’s Cisco getting into a car with Snart’s sister.” He zoomed the video to the license plate. “And the license plate is iced over.”

Barry pounded the table he was sitting at. “Dammit.  Alright, Doctor Wells, you were right.  I-I screwed with time, and now time is screwing with me.  I’m sorry.”

“Tell that to Cisco when we get him back.” Eo turned away from Barry to toss the tablet onto the console.

Barry waved at the screen helplessly. “It’s just.  Cold’s back, he’s kidnapped Cisco, and now—”

“Stop right there,” Eo said, his voice deadly soft. “Not another word.  You wouldn’t want to cause _another_ disruption to the timeline, now would you?”

“Please, Doctor Wells.”

To think that there was a time when that soft plea would have fallen on deaf ears.  Eo was reminded again how much had changed in just a handful of months.  He paused on his way from the room, head tilted to let Barry know he was listening.

“Please, I _have_ to talk to someone.” Barry looked over at Eo, arms wrapped around himself.

Eo wished he could still ignore the sight of Barry looking so helpless and lost.  He would likely regret this, but it was better than Barry’s continued fumblings with the timeline. “Go ahead.” He listened as Barry explained what had gone wrong the previous version of today.  How Captain Singh was injured, how Joe was kidnapped and possibly worse, how a tsunami nearly wiped out Central City, and how Eo himself donned a suit to help him try to stop it.

The last surprised Eo, and he allowed that surprise to show. “Cisco’s finished my suit?”

Barry nodded tightly. “Yeah.  Like mine, but black and silver, from what I remember seeing.”  He eyed Eo carefully. “Also saw your lightning.  It’s red.”

“Ah.” Eo considered how to handle this, then decided it was best to just dive in. “We thought it best to wait before telling you.  I know you don’t exactly have the best associations with red lightning.”

“Well, you can’t help what your lightning looks like,” was Barry’s soft-spoken response.  He seemed to hesitate before adding, “You’re also faster than me.”

Eo nodded slowly. “Yes, I am.  Cisco and Caitlin clocked me at over 600 miles per hour.”  Barry simply nodded at that. “We’ll get Cisco back, Barry, and we will see Cold in jail before this is over.”

Barry looked conflicted at that, but nodded. “We will.”

“But Barry.  This new ability of yours, it’s dangerous.  You only traveled back in time one day.  What if you traveled back decades?” Eo removed his glasses as he posited this ‘theory’ to Barry.  Sometimes, he’d found, removing his glasses for emphasis had a much larger impact than if he’d left them on. “Centuries?  Imagine the havoc you could wreak.” He put his glasses back on as he stared at Barry’s now-thoughtful face.  At least he was getting through to the boy.

Barry shook his head slowly as he said, “But I will have the opportunity to travel back in time in the near future to save my mom; to visit her.” He looked over at Eo in confusion.  “Are…?  You’re saying that I shouldn’t?”

“What I’m saying is how many more people could die if your mother lives?” Eo watched Barry’s face morph to a wounded expression.  Sometimes tough love was necessary.

Before Barry could respond to that, Caitlin came back in and asked, “Did you guys find Cisco?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don’t really speak Spanish. I took a year of it in college, but that was a decade ago and not much really stuck. So this is courtesy of Google Translate and a Spanish insults page I found. Sadly, Google Translate doesn’t like cursing insults. I apologize to anyone who actually speaks that beautiful language. 
> 
> Here’s the translations according to Google Translate and the website I used. I combined two of them, so if I screwed up or just in general, please let me know and I’ll change it.
> 
> Te voy a matar – I’m going to kill you  
> Hijo de la gran puta – Son of a bitch  
> Vete a la verga culero – Fuck you asshole (lit. Go to a dick)
> 
> Also, eagle-eyed viewers might have caught a bit of headcanon about Cisco in there. I haven’t decided if I’m tagging for it, because while I think all trans characters should be tagged cause I love reading it and I know others do, it’s such a minor part of this fic, I’m not sure it’s worth mentioning. But yes, Cisco’s a trans man in this. I like that particular headcanon and I’m keeping it. 
> 
> As I said, though, it probably won’t see much actual screen time. I love fic that deal with trans issues, but what I’m going with here that Cisco’s been transitioned long enough that it’s a non-issue with those who know. Being trans isn’t his defining trait, it’s just a quirk of biology. As a trans man myself, I’m of the opinion that being trans shouldn’t have to be something you have to announce to the world unless you’re misgendered, and Cisco passes well enough as a man that the only people who misgender him at this point are his parents; Dante, at least, accepts it. So yeah, it’s a detail in this fic, but not one likely to come up very much in ICHtA. Now I might, at some point, touch on it in A Different Point of View, but that’ll be somewhere in the future.


	40. Rogue Time Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco is found, emotions are discussed, and a heist is foiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, the final chapter of Rogue Time, and the end to what was my favorite episode set to write. So much happened in this short period of time, so much plot. 
> 
> I really hope you enjoy this closure to the set.

“There’s nothing on the satellite thermography,” Hartley said dejectedly.

Barry sighed, “You were right.  This is all my fault.”

“Of course it’s your fault.  That is why _you_ are going to fix this as soon as we find the bastard.” Hartley glared at Barry over the console.

Caitlin looked at Barry in confusion. “How is this your fault?”

Eo cut off whatever Barry might have replied with by saying, “Brave heart, Barry.  We’ll get Cisco back.”

“I’m back.”

Everyone turned around to stare at a worse-for-wear Cisco standing in the doorway of the cortex.

Hartley was out of his chair and by Cisco’s side so quickly that you’d think he were the speedster in the room. “Cisquito, you’re here!  Are you alright?  What did he do to you?” Hartley’s hands hovered over Cisco’s shoulders and arms, clearly not sure where it was safe to touch.  With the bruises on Cisco’s face, that was likely a justified concern.

Cisco smiled wearily at Hartley’s fussing. “Yeah, Hart, I’m here.” He reached out to grab Hartley’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

Caitlin was next to Cisco’s side, and she gently turned his head towards her to inspect his bruises. “Oh my god, are you okay?  Are you hurt anywhere else?” She carefully hugged him.  “We were so worried.”

“What happened?” Barry asked as he joined the crowd growing around Cisco.

Eo, meanwhile, stayed where he was near the screens as he asked, “How did you escape?”

Cisco shook his head. “I didn’t.”

Even Barry was confused by that. “Le—Snart just let you go?  Why?”

Eo carefully refrained from rolling his eyes at Barry’s near-slip.  Thankfully, the other children didn’t seem to catch it.

Cisco leaned into Hartley, who wrapped his arms carefully around Cisco. “He, um…he tortured my brother.”  He didn’t look at anyone as he explained, “He said he was gonna kill him if I didn’t…if I didn’t tell him.”

Hartley’s voice was soft as he asked, “Tell him what, Cisquito?”

Cisco raised fear-filled eyes to Barry’s. “Tell him who the Flash really is.”

Eo removed his glasses to rub at his eyes.  The others seemed to think the sick look Barry now sported was due to his enemy knowing who he was.  Perhaps it was better they think that, rather than the truth: Snart now knew that he had been dating the Flash for the past few months.  Eo wished he could be a fly on the wall for that conversation.  If he were lucky, they’d have it someplace Eo already had bugs planted, but he doubted he was _that_ lucky.  Hopefully this meant an end to that preposterous relationship.  Barry had to know it was doomed from the start.  Why he insisted on the charade was beyond Eo.

While he was ruminating on Barry’s complex love life, Cisco had continued, “Honestly, man, they could’ve killed me, but they were going to kill my brother.” He choked back a sob as he clung to Hartley. “I couldn’t let them do that.”

Barry shook his head as he slowly approached Cisco. “No, no, Cisco.  I wouldn’t expect you to.  It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, Barry.  I’m so sorry.” Cisco flinched when Barry reached out to grasp Cisco’s shoulder.

“Hey, no.  I mean it, it’s fine, Cisco.  I put you in that position, and _I’m_ sorry.” Barry ignored the glare Hartley was giving him to pull Cisco into a hug. 

After a minute, Cisco pulled away and tried to break out of Hartley’s hold on his waist. “Hart, let me go.”

“No, Cisquito, not until you tell me where you’re going.  You need to let Caitlin look at you.” Hartley reeled Cisco back into his arms, though Cisco didn’t fight it all that hard.

“I don’t deserve to be here.” Cisco shook his head. “I can’t…I won’t be the one to put you in jeopardy, not again.  Never again.”

Hartley squeezed Cisco’s waist before turning him and leading him from the cortex. “Okay, Cisquito.  Let’s go get some Thai; you must be hungry after being gone all night and day.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Barry watched them leave then turned to Caitlin and Eo. “I’m going to find him.”

Eo just gave Barry a knowing look.  Yes, Barry would find Snart, but would he do what needed to be done to avenge his treatment of Cisco.  That was the question.

***

Eo found Cisco and Hartley in their workshop, the former slowly packing while the latter tried to get him to eat from the numerous takeout containers on one of the tables.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be out of here soon,” Cisco said after seeing Eo in the doorway.

“Maybe you can talk some sense into him, Harrison.” Hartley shook his head as he set the takeout container in his hands down. “He won’t listen to me.”

Eo watched Cisco thoughtfully for another minute. “Making a choice between two people you love, that is the hardest dilemma you will ever face.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about me making the wrong decision again,” Cisco said as he moved across the room to get a few more items.

Eo shook his head. “All you proved today, Cisco, is that you’re human.  All you proved today is that you love your brother.” He slowly paced across the room to be closer to Cisco, to try to get Cisco to look at him before he said, “And the reason that we all want you to stay is that we love you, too.” Cisco did look over at him at that, and Eo made sure he had Cisco’s full attention before continuing, “Now, I am not a parent, but in many ways, you have shown me what it’s like to have a son.” He shot a look at Hartley, “Both of you; all of you.  You four are like children to me.  I will not stop you from leaving, but you should know that we _are_ a family, and we love you no matter what, Cisco.” Hopefully Cisco chose to stay after that.  Eo would allow him to leave, if he insisted, but only long enough for him to realize the error of his ways.  Nobody else would touch Cisco, or Caitlin if she ever decided to leave.  Just as with Hartley, Eo had ensured both of them would have no other options outside of STAR Labs.  He was confident that Cisco would soon see that STAR Labs, with them, was the best choice.

_“Guys, you should get up here.”_

Eo glanced up at the speaker in the workshop, then at Hartley and Cisco. “Shall we go see what Caitlin needs us for?”

Cisco hesitated for a long moment before nodding.  Across the room, Hartley let out a sigh of relief.

***

As soon as they crossed the doorway into the cortex, Barry said, “The casino wasn’t the target.”

Cisco turned to Eo in bafflement. “Then why did he do it?”

Caitlin explained, “Casinos keep tons of cash on hand to cover their markers, not to mention the money that they make.”

“But if they’re under attack,” Barry continued, “protocol is to relocate the money outside the casino.”

Eo had to admit that was ingenious. “So that was Snart’s plan all along, to trigger the move.”

Hartley stepped up to Caitlin at the console. “Alright, where is it now?”

Caitlin scooted over so Hartley could see the map. “It looks like it’s on the highway on the way out of town.”

Barry stepped back toward his suit. “I’m on it.”

Hartley gave Barry a hard look. “Give them hell, Barry.”

With a nod of understanding, Barry was suited up and out the door.

Cisco sat in his usual chair and pulled himself up to the console to track Barry while Hartley took over from Caitlin tracking the money. “Okay, Barry, CCTV shows two motorcycles closing in on the truck.  Best bet is that’s Snart and Rory.”

_“I see them.  I’m going to grab Snart and go off comm.”_

“Wait, no, Barry—” Eo tried to stop Barry, but they heard the click that meant he’d turned his comm off.  Eo glared at the mic.  Of course he knew why Barry had turned off the comm, but that didn’t mean he agreed with it.

“Why would he do that?” Cisco asked, confusion written over his face.

“Hopefully so we didn’t have to hear him beating the crap out of Snart,” Hartley replied.

Cisco looked at the map tracking Barry. “Satellite’s got Barry in the middle of nowhere just west of the city.”

They waited for twenty tense minutes before Barry’s marker on the map moved from the woods towards Central.  Half a minute later Barry flashed into the cortex, changed out of his suit, and dropped into the chair at the console beside it.  He looked a little flushed, but that could be attributed to the run.

Eo knew it wasn’t, and his eyes narrowed as he observed Barry.

“Finally, man!  How’d it go with Cold?” Cisco asked.

Hartley leaned forward in his chair. “Yes, tell me you left his broken body out there for the wolves to find.”

Barry shook his head. “Cold and I came to an understanding.  He doesn’t kill anymore, or go after any of you or my family, and if he can get away from me, I won’t pursue him.  In return, he doesn’t tell the world who I am.”

Hartley let out an enraged yell as he stood and stalked around the console to Barry. “You let that asshole live?”

“Well, I did leave him twenty miles outside the city, in the middle of nowhere,” Barry offered as he stood to meet Hartley.

Eo would bet money that Barry did no such thing.  The most likely thing was that Barry had dropped Snart off on his way to the Labs.  And surprisingly, Barry let none of that show as he stood toe to toe with Hartley.  It would seem that he’d underestimated Barry’s ability to tell a bald face lie, given the proper motivation.  That was annoying.

Hartley visibly shook as he tried to regain control of his temper.  After a minute, he hissed low enough that Eo barely heard it, “If he _ever_ comes for Cisco again, it won’t just be Cold who pays, _Flash_.” Eo watched Barry’s eyes go wide at the threat, but before he or Barry could say anything, Hartley turned around and strode over to Cisco. “Come on, Cisquito.  You need a hot bath and a good meal, and I know of this quaint mom and pop place on the corner of Mientus and Valdes that would put your madre’s cooking to shame.”

Cisco laughed as he stood. “That’s not that difficult, Hart.  My mom’s a terrible cook.”  He smiled at Eo, Caitlin, and Barry. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Eo nodded imperceptivity at the hard look Hartley gave him and said, “Take tomorrow off, Cisco.  You should take the time to relax after what you’ve been through.”

Cisco smiled gratefully.  “Thanks, Doctor Wells.”  He and Hartley started to leave, but Eo had one more command to give them.

“Hartley,” Eo said and watched as the man paused. “You better keep an eye on him.  Cisco shouldn’t be alone tomorrow.”

Hartley grinned at Eo and with a casual salute and a “Yes, sir”, he led Cisco from the cortex.

“That was really sweet of you, Doctor Wells,” Caitlin said with a soft smile.

“I imagine the two of them have a lot to discuss, and Hartley will be virtually useless if he’s distracted by his worry for Cisco,” was the excuse Eo tried to sell.  From the looks Caitlin and Barry were giving him, they weren’t buying it.

“I think someone is a romantic at heart,” Barry teased as he strolled up to the front of the console.

Eo gave a small shrug.  “I too was once young and in love, Barry.  I remember that feeling well, and I certainly don’t begrudge Cisco and Hartley their budding relationship.”

“At least, we hope it’s budding after tonight,” Caitlin said with a roll of her eyes. “Those two are hopelessly head over heels for one another.”

“They have a complex history to sort through.  These things take time.” Eo stood. “You two should get home as well.  We can let the police do their jobs for one night without the Flash.”

Caitlin grabbed her shawl as she stood. “Thank you, Doctor Wells.  You don’t need anything before we go, do you?”

Eo shook his head, “No, Caitlin, thank you.  Go, both of you.”

Barry grinned at him. “Thanks, Doctor Wells.  I think I’m going to go surprise Len.  I told him I had to work tonight, but he was off so… yeah.  I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

Eo watched as they left then tapped a few commands to put everything in sleep mode.  It would still monitor the city, and send out alerts to them all if something major happened, but for now it was as quiet as it ever got at STAR Labs.  This suited Eo just fine, because he had something to look into. 

Gideon had caught a conversation between Iris and Mason Bridge at CCPN a few days earlier.  Seems the Pulitzer winning investigative reporter was investigating Harrison Wells.  Eo couldn’t kill him, as was his first instinct, but he could destroy all of the man’s research and data.  He can’t report on something without proof.  It was possible that the man could rebuild what he’d lost, but it would take time.  It really would be easier for all involved if he could just murder the man and be done with it.  But no, he had to play nice for now. 

Eo slowly grinned as he thought of something.  _He_ couldn’t kill Mason Bridge, but if a meta came into town and Bridge happened to die in the crossfire…now _that_ had promise.  Pity Central City wasn’t home to a serial killer.  It would be nothing to frame the murder on that person instead.  Ah well, Eo would make do.  Now to check with Gideon on where Mason Bridge kept all of his research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? Lots of plot. Hart and Cisco finally get together, Len finally learns Barry's the Flash (that woods encounter is it's own ADPOV that I'll be posting tomorrow), and Eo still learns about Mason. Plot, plot everywhere! 
> 
> Oh, and the serial killer reference is a subtle nod to one of the best works of fanfiction I’ve ever read: nirejseki’s [Where Angels Fear To Tread](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10441626). If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. Basically: Len’s a serial killer, but a good one that only goes after bad guys. He’s a criminal version of Dexter. Go read it. Actually, read everything nirejseki writes, because it’s all amazing. Where Angels Fear To Tread is Coldwave, though, if that matters to some people. I personally read almost any pairing if the fic's good, but I know a lot of folk only like sticking to certain pairings. 
> 
> A final note that I could wait until Sunday to mention, but I'll go ahead and mention it now: The next chapter, the start of the Trickster episode set, will be posted on Sunday as usual, but after that I'm going to be switching to a once weekly posting schedule. I probably should have done it three weeks ago, but I was too eager to get Out of Time and Rogue Time out to you guys. My school schedule is just too hectic, and while I do have all of the Trickster set written, I don't have much past it and I'm trying to give myself time to write so you don't have to wait for a chapter. But, as I said, my school schedule is keeping me from writing as much as I'd prefer, so after the Trickster set there might be a period of time before the next chapter comes out.


	41. Tricksters Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The metahuman containment system is finally ready.

When Cisco and Hartley had returned to work last week after their day off, things were clearly different between him.  Everyone was relieved; the tension between Cisco and Hartley had been getting ridiculous.  The following week passed quickly with Barry helping the police with smaller crimes while Cisco and Hartley focused on finishing the metahuman cell containment system for Iron Heights. 

Eo stepped into the empty storeroom that the boys had converted into a test cell for the containment system.  With anyone else, he’d never risk being put in such a vulnerable position, but he knew that Cisco and Hartley didn’t genuinely mean him harm. “Alright, Cisco, I’m ready.”

Cisco’s voice came over the speaker in the room, _“Turning system on in three…two…one.”_

Eo could tell the moment it turned on.  It was like a punch to the gut, and it left him gasping.  If this is what the metahumans in the pipeline felt when they were tossed into the cells, no wonder they protested so much.  It took him a minute to compose himself, which was longer than either young man was expecting, because Hartley’s voice filled the room while Eo was trying to gather himself.

_“Harrison, talk to us.  What’s going on?”_

“I’m good,” Eo managed shakily. “It just carried more of a punch than I was expecting.  It works.” He attempted to access the Speed Force and was unsurprised when he couldn’t.

 _“Your vitals look good, Doctor Wells,”_ Caitlin reassured him.

It felt like a hole, an emptiness, had opened inside him.  Something that had always been there was now gone.  He spared a thought for his remnant having to experience this, but they both knew going into this that his remnant would suffer far more than Eo himself would.  More to the point, they had both agreed that it was necessary.

 _“Okay, energy levels look good,”_ Cisco said. _“Everything looks stable.  I’m going to turn it off now, Doctor Wells.”_

He felt it when the system was shut down.  It was like he could finally take a deep breath after being unable to breathe properly.  Eo ran out of the room and down a few doors to where the kids had set up a temporary lab space for the test.  Hands immediately went to loose papers as his appearance made them flutter; the team had practice from Barry all these months, after all. “It feels unpleasant, but it works.  I couldn’t access the Speed Force while it was active.”

“And that is the important part,” Cisco said happily.  He spun around in his chair to face Eo. “When we go to CCPD later, I’ll bring up building of a new wing to properly house the metahumans in Iron Heights with Captain Singh.  Until then, we can modify existing cells to hold them temporarily.”

“Well done, Cisco, Hartley,” Eo praised them with a smile. “As soon as Iron Heights is prepared, we can transfer the metahumans from the pipeline to there where they can await trial.”

Caitlin began packing up her equipment. “I’m glad we’re doing this.  I’ve never felt quite right about keeping the metahumans locked up in our basement.  I know they’re bad guys, but it still isn’t healthy for them to be locked up in solitary confinement for so long.”

Yes, Eo had made the right choice.  Additionally, with the metahumans out of the pipeline, the space could be repurposed.  Eo had been thinking of a speed lab: a place where he and Barry could run freely, yet still be monitored; a much more open version of the treadmill room. “As soon as you are ready, we can head over to the CCPD.”

Hartley nodded. “Just give us an hour to pack everything up, and we’ll be good to go.”

***

Reverse sat up when he heard footsteps coming down the hall.  He was the lone occupant of the cells at the moment, and it was too early to be lunch.  Someone was coming to see him.  He stood a moment before his visitors came in view, and he raised his eyebrow at who it was.  In front of his cell stood Captain Singh, Joe, and Cisco, “Barry not feeling up to the field trip down to the cells?”

Joe’s eyes narrowed, “You shut up.  You don’t get to mention his name, you sick bastard.”

“Joe,” Captain Singh said in warning before turning to Reverse. “Mr. Ramon has come with a way to restrain you and other metahumans so that you can be transferred to Iron Heights.”

Reverse tilted his head as he turned to look at Cisco.  The younger man was nervous and trying to hide it.  He held a pair of heavy-duty handcuffs. “That’s it, then?”  He stepped forward to stick his arms through the hole in the bars for that express purpose. “Come on, then.”  He had no doubt that the cuffs would work as intended.

Cisco put them on Reverse before pressing a button in an out-of-reach spot.  The cuffs gave a soft hum and a blue light lit around the ring of the cuffs. “There you go.  This season’s biggest fashion accessory.”

Reverse pulled his hands back through the bars after he felt his connection to the Speed Force disappear. “Charming.  I suppose now you’ll be transporting me to Iron Heights?”

“Yes, Mr. Thawne, and you will wait for your trial there.  They’re retrofitting several cells now to hold you, and others like you, until the new wing of the prison can be built,” the Captain explained as he opened the cell.

Beside him, Joe drew his weapon, though kept it aimed at the floor. “Come on, Thawne.  I’ll be escorting you personally to your new cell.”

Reverse stepped out of the cell slowly, noting how Cisco stepped back out of reach.  He didn’t protest as the Captain stepped up to grab his arm. “Come now, Detective, there’s no need for hostilities.  Have I not been a model prisoner?”

Captain Singh spoke up before Joe could, “That’s enough, Mr. Thawne.  Please stop goading my detective.” He began to lead them all to the elevator. “There are a pair of officers who will be accompanying you and Detective West to Iron Heights.  Your court-appointed lawyer will be in touch with you there.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Reverse kept his head high as he was escorted up to the main floor of the precinct, then out to the waiting van.  Once he was secured in the back, Joe hopped in to sit across from him while the other two officers sat in front.  This was going to be a long drive by the way Joe was glaring at him.  At least the detective had holstered his weapon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we got to see Reverse Flash again. I hadn't forgotten about him, don't worry. He still has a role to play in the grander scheme of things.
> 
> Also a reminder that for the next while updates will come once a week on Sundays. School is getting crazy as midterms approach.


	42. Tricksters Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Trickster makes his debut

That afternoon, the next bit of trouble reared its head in the form of bombs raining from the sky on small red parachutes.  Eo sat at the console as Barry flashed in for his suit and back out again.  “Barry, what’s going on?”

_“Someone is bombing a playground full of kids.”_

“Kids?  Who attacks kids?” Cisco asked from the other end of the console.

“Someone without a conscience,” Hartley replied. “Wait, there’s a video coming through.”  He set it to play on the screens across the room.

Eo frowned as he watched this self-proclaimed Trickster taunted everyone.  This couldn’t be good. 

Barry arrived back carrying Joe, and changed out of his suit just as the video looped again. 

Once the video ended again, Cisco said, “Talking in the third person.  That’s never a good sign.”

Hartley smirked down at Cisco from where he was leaning against the console next to the engineer. “You’re just mad because he named himself.”

“Actually, he didn’t,” Joe said as he turned to face the four on the other side of the console. “Twenty years ago, Central City was hit by a series of terrorist attacks.  One man killed at least ten civilians, two cops.  That guy called himself the Trickster.”

Eo took that in as he watched Cisco look up the previous Trickster.  Twenty years ago was long before he’d arrived in this time period.  His children would have been in kindergarten or first grade.  It was no wonder none of them remembered it.

“Whoa. Someone was rocking the unitard,” Cisco exclaimed as he put his findings up on the bigger screens.

Hartley leaned over to get a look at the elder Trickster. “He was certainly flamboyant.”

Even Eo cringed at the sight, and he formerly wore a bright yellow suit. “Ooo…that’s…bright.”

“James Jesse?” Caitlin asked as she read the name.  

Joe nodded, “Like Jesse James, only more twisted.”

“And where is this Mr. Jesse now?” Eo asked.  The last thing he wanted was this psycho anywhere near his children.

“He’s serving several life sentences at Iron Heights.  He was just about the most dangerous thing Central City had ever seen,” Joe replied.

“Until my particle accelerator blew up, you mean,” Eo said in a self-deprecating tone.  Not that he truly meant to be self-deprecating, but one must put on a show for those expecting it.  And he still had to deal with the fact that Joe West was suspicious of him, no matter that his double and self-admitted murderer was now rotting in Iron Heights for the crime.

Joe shrugged, conceding the point. “Barry and I will go see James Jesse at Iron Heights.  See if he can give us something that can help us catch his groupie.”

“Is that wise, going to a known psycho for help?” Hartley asked.

“Whether it is or not, he’s our best bet at catching this guy,” Joe replied before turning to Barry. “Come on, Barr.”

Cisco bent back over his keyboard. “I’ll analyze the video and see if I can figure out the source.”

“Thanks, Cisco.” Barry patted Cisco’s shoulder on his way past.

***

Several hours later found them once again gathered in the cortex watching a new video from this new Trickster. 

“This was posted a few hours ago,” Eo said from where he leaned back against the main console, arms crossed and with a displeased frown.  He didn’t like someone else murdering in his city. “Whoever this Trickster is, he’s certainly not shy.”

Joe turned to Cisco as he asked, “Cisco, can you trace where the video was posted from?”

Cisco shook his head. “I tried.  But this guy is using some crazy Felicity-caliber scrambler like I’ve never seen.”

Hartley picked up where Cisco left off, “The origin of the upload’s coming from hundreds of locations.  Until he uploads another video, it’s going to be tough.”

“This psychopath has the capability to destroy the city,” Barry quietly pointed out.

“Hey, we said it’d be tough, but not impossible, Barry.  Calm down, we’ll catch the guy.” Hartley gave Cisco’s shoulder a squeeze as he frowned at Barry.

“Barry, we’ll catch him,” Caitlin said reassuringly. “We always do.”

“I know.  I’m sorry.  It’s just…this is tough.” Barry turned back to stare at the face of this new Trickster on the screen, arms wrapped around himself.

“Mr. Allen, a word please,” Eo said as he turned to lead the way into the treadmill room. 

Behind him, he could hear Cisco quietly comment, “Ooo…called into the principal’s office.”

Eo waited until Barry was in the room before turning and commenting, “I know what’s wrong with you.  I know what you’re thinking.”

Barry raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Do you?”

“I know going to Iron Heights and conversing with Mr. Jesse has brought about feelings of your father.  How could it not?”

Barry sighed before nodding, arms once more wrapped around himself. “I mean, yeah, it’s been tough.  Knowing that he’ll be out soon, but until then he’s stuck in that place.  A place my mom’s murderer is now in.  I know they can’t interact, that they’re in different parts of the prison, but I can’t help worry that Reverse Flash will somehow get to him and take him away too.”

“Of course,” Eo said softly. “But he _will_ come out soon, Barry.  And I promise you that there is no way that Reverse Flash can get out of that metahuman cell now that he’s in there.”

“Thank you,” Barry said with a small nod.

“Now, how about we focus on this Trickster before anybody else gets hurt?” Eo stepped up to Barry to give his arm a squeeze.

Barry smiled gratefully. “Yeah.  Thanks for the pep talk.”

Eo gave Barry a warm smile. “I’m always here for you, Barry.” Barry’s phone beeped from his pocket, and the younger man stepped back to check it.  Upon seeing the dopey smile, Eo hazard a guess as to who had just texted, “Text from Len, I take it?”

Barry blushed bright red, but nodded. “Yeah.  He’s, uh, he’s just checking in.  I told him that I’d be on call until the Trickster was taken care of.”

“You’re getting pretty serious with him,” Eo remarked idly.  He was fishing for information, mostly.  He wanted to see what Barry would let slip.

A lot, was the answer Eo got when Barry absently replied, “I know.  Things have been surprisingly good since I told him I’m the Flash.” Barry realized what he’d admitted a second too late and cringed.

This wasn’t news to Eo, of course, but he feigned surprise for his audience. “You told Len that you’re the Flash.  Are you certain that was wise?  You’ve only known this man for a few months.  You haven’t told people you’ve known for decades.”

Barry shook his head. “Len’s different.  He…he’s not a metahuman, but he gets it.  He gets me.” Barry visibly steeled himself, and it made Eo wonder what he was about to say. “I know you don’t like him, and I can’t imagine why when you’ve never met him, but he makes me happy.  He makes it easier to deal with all of this,” and here Barry waved his arm around the room, to indicate the Flash in general. 

Eo’s lips pursed as he took in what Barry had said.  Sometimes he forgot that Barry wasn’t actually that oblivious about much.  The man was a very capable CSI, and he saw more than he typically let on.  It had Eo wondering what Barry had put together about him.  “No, I’m not particularly happy about your relationship with ‘Len’.” Eo considered what he was about to say, then decided to lay his cards on the table, “I don’t think you dating Captain Cold is a particularly smart move.” There it was, that brief flash of surprise.  A lesser man might not have felt so pleased to have gotten one over on their genius pseudo-son. “Yes, I figured out that your ‘Len’ is Leonard Snart.  Really, there were too many coincidences for it to be anybody else.”

He could see Barry brace himself for the argument to come.  Barry squared his shoulders, and his jaw, and planted his feet a bit more apart. “There’s good in him, Doctor Wells.  In another life, I could have ended up just like him, or worse.”

Eo took in how Barry had braced himself, and the stubborn look in his eye.  _He’s in love,_ Eo thought to himself.  If he pushed this, he would lose.  Losing Barry wasn’t acceptable, not now, not ever.  Eobard hated to lose anything, but perhaps he could step back from this and let Barry win this battle.  Eo would still win the greater war later, when Snart proved his true colors.  He purposefully didn’t think about the future Gideon showed him. “Alright.  I won’t say anything to the others, and I’ll let the matter drop.  I hope you know what you’re doing, Barry.”

“I do,” was Barry’s immediate reply. “You’ll see, Doctor Wells: there’s good in Len.”

Eo’s lip twitched as he said, “Good luck winning Joe over with that argument.” It shouldn’t have been satisfying to watch Barry flinch at the mention of his foster father, but it was. 

_“Doctor Wells, Barry, you guys need to get back here.  The Trickster’s posted another video.”_

The two shared a look before turning to return to the cortex.  Once they arrived, Cisco hit a button to play the Trickster’s latest video.

_“The bomb is somewhere between 52 nd Street and Avenue B.”_

Barry didn’t wait to hear the rest of the message before getting into his suit and leaving to search the ten block area.

Eo stood behind the other children as they manned the console, elbow braced in his hand.  Something about this didn’t feel right.  What the children in front of him were saying to Barry over the comm only increased his certainty.

_“Guys, I can’t find it!  I need your help.”_

“There’s nothing on the traffic cams or CCTV,” Caitlin said with a shake of her head.

“I retasked the STAR Labs’ satellite to scan the area for incendiary devices.  A bomb that large should be giving off a thermal or chemical signature,” Cisco added.

_“Then why can’t I find it?”_

Eo realized why the same time Hartley did.  Hartley half-turned to share a look with Eo before saying, “Because it’s a trick, Barry.  The bomb’s not there.” Hartley turned back around to widen their search area on the map. “It’s a diversion.  He doesn’t want us to see what he’s actually doing.”

_“Then where do I go?”_

“Where would he want to keep the Flash and the police away from?” Caitlin asked the room in general.

Eo’s eyes widened as he realized.  They’d been so _blind_. “Barry, get to Iron Heights.  The Trickster is going to break out James Jesse.” He ignored the shocked looks on the children for now. “Hurry.”

_“I’m on it.”_

Moments before Barry arrived at Iron Heights, they got a ping from the satellite.

“Uh oh.  There’s an explosion at Iron Heights,” Cisco said as he typed at the console.

Hartley shook his head. “I hate being right.”

“The prison was the reason target,” Eo said with a disbelieving shake of his head. “James Jesse.  He tricked us all.”


	43. Tricksters Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with the Tricksters, and the aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Simulated suicide. I’m tagging it thus because of something that happens near the end of the chapter. It’s not suicide, but it looks like it, so the warning goes up. If you want to skip it, it’s the last scene in the chapter, that begins with ~O~ instead of my typical scene breaks. I’ll explain what happens in the End Notes.

“We were able to identify the other Trickster,” Joe said to the team gathered in the cortex. “His name’s Axel Walker, age 25.  Apparently him and James have been corresponding through snail mail for over a decade.”

Barry, sitting of to the side, shook his head. “I should have been there.”

What he meant is that he should have been able to stop the Tricksters from kidnapping his father during their escape from Iron Heights.  Though Barry arrived just after Axel blew a hole in James’ cell, they were somehow able to give the Flash the slip, and they took Henry Allen along for the ride.  Barry had been kicking himself over it ever since, and Eo and Joe had been trying to get Barry to see that it wasn’t his fault with little success.

Caitlin walked over to Barry and placed her hand on his shoulder. “We’re gonna find your dad, okay?”

“Definitely,” Hartley said from where he stood next to Cisco. “You’re the only one of us with a decent relationship with your parents.  We’ve got to protect that.  Ow!  What was that for?” Hartley asked Cisco as he rubbed his side where the other man had elbowed him.  At the pointed look Cisco gave him, Hartley rolled his eyes and said to Barry as he frowned at Cisco, “Sorry.  That was insensitive of me.”

Barry shook his head. “No, it’s fine.” He sighed then pushed himself up and walked out of the cortex.

Eo watched as Barry took off.  Though he held no personal love for the man, he was important to Barry.  They’d focus on finding Henry, and then the Tricksters would pay.  Times like this Eo really missed being able to murder a problem away.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Joe said before chasing after Barry.

***

Hours later, they had their breakthrough.  Unfortunately, it came at a terrible cost.

Joe stared in horror as James Jesse’s voice came from his phone.  Iris had called them and now they were listening as James’ speech came through. “Cisco, can you ping her phone?”

“On it.”

Caitlin spoke up, voice filled with horror, “Trimethylmercury-32 is a relatively fast-acting poison.”

“Is there a cure?” Barry asked as he leaned over Caitlin’s shoulder to read what she’d found.

“Yes.  We can synthesize the antidote,” Caitlin pushed away from the console and quickly went to her lab to start working it. “It’ll take some time, though.  I’ll get right on that.”

“Cisco, where is she?” Joe asked as he gripped the front of the console.

“City Hall,” he replied a moment later.

Hartley’s eyes widened as he stared at Joe. “The mayor’s having a fundraiser there tonight.” At the look Joe gave him, he explained, “My parents are there.”

Eo frowned at Barry as the younger man turned toward his suit. “Barry, don’t underestimate the Trickster.”  Barry was gone almost before he could finish speaking.  They really needed to have a talk about that hot head of his.  He turned to Cisco and Hartley. “Track him, and pull up the CCTV from the fundraiser.”

“Got it,” Hartley said as he put the footage on the screens. 

They watched as Barry appeared and heard through the comms how he questioned James about Henry’s whereabouts. 

_“Same place you’ll be soon: heaven!”_

Axel ran forward and attached something to Barry’s wrist.  Eo leaned forward to try to see what it was. “Cisco…”

Cisco’s voice was filled with worry as he revealed, “It’s a bomb.”

_“Are you familiar with the movie_ Speed _?  Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock?  See, you’re the bus and that’s the bomb. Kinetic bomb, actually.  If you go below 600 miles per hour it’ll explode.  Same thing happens if you try to remove it.  Ooh!  It’s active, run, run, run, run, run!”_

Joe gasped at that, his hand rising to cover his mouth in horror.

Eo felt for the man, he truly did.  Not only was his daughter in danger, but now his son.  Eo felt the same way.  He wasn’t sure how he’d manage it, but James had just signed his own death warrant. “Don’t worry, Joe; Barry can run that fast easily.” That was a bit of a stretch, but Joe didn’t need to worry.  Eo already knew how he was going to save Barry.

_“Cisco!”_

“He wasn’t lying.  That thing’s linked to a speedometer, and it _will_ blow if you stop moving,” Cisco said in a harried voice.

_“I can’t run forever.”_

Hartley’s brow furrowed with worry. “There’s got to be a way to get it off of him without damaging it.”

Eo leaned in toward the mic, “Barry, do you see any walls nearby?”

_“Why?”_

“Because I need you to run into one,” Eo said calmly, ignoring the gasps from Cisco and Hartley to his right. “Or more accurately, through one.”

“What?” the boys asked in unison.

“If you vibrate at the natural frequency of air your body, your cells, will be in a state of excitement that _should_ allow you to phase right through that wall.  Leaving the bomb on the other side.” Eo was aware that what he was doing would raise more questions, but he’d deal with that later.  Right now, all that was important was to get that bomb off of Barry, and to do that Barry needed to phase through a wall.  When Barry’s future self had attempted to phase through the cuffs months ago, Eo never thought that _this_ would be how Barry would learn that trick.

_“Should?”_

Eo took a deep breath and focused on not allowing any of his concern show through his voice. “You can do this, Barry.  I believe in you.”

_“I can’t.”_

“Listen to me, Barry.  Breathe.  _Breathe_.  Feel the air.  Feel that wind on your face.  Feel the ground.  Your feet lifting you up, pushing you forward, and the lightning.” Eo removed his glasses as he leaned forward even more.  He could almost feel the wind himself as he talked Barry through the mindset he’d need to phase through solid objects. “Feel the lightning.  Feel its power.  Its electricity pumping through your veins.  Crackling through you, traveling to every nerve in your body like a _shock_.  You’re no longer you now.  You’re part of something greater.  You’re part of the Speed Force.  It’s yours.” Eo’s eyes closed as he remembered that feeling. “Now do it,” he commanded.

They heard static briefly through the comm, then Barry panting moments before an explosion. _“How?”_

Eo opened his eyes to smile, pleased, at the mic.  He put his glasses back on as Hartley asked, “Barry?”

_“Oh, that felt weird.  I’m good.”_

The entire cortex breathed a sigh of relief.

Caitlin rushed from her lab to lean over the console so the mic would pick her up. “Barry, come by the Labs, I have the—” There was a quick streak of golden lightning and Caitlin found herself empty handed once it had left. “—antidote.”

They listened as Barry assured the crowd that they were cured, then as he dealt with James and Axel.

_“I’m going after my father.”_

“Hurry, Barry.  There’s no telling what that psycho has done to your dad,” Cisco said as he leaned back in his chair. “Man, that was crazy.”

Hartley agreed, “It really was.”

Eo reached over to click off the mic when they heard Henry’s voice say, _“All right.”_

Caitlin smiled at Eo for the curtesy. “This is the first time that Doctor Allen’s seen Barry in the suit, isn’t it?”

Eo nodded. “It is.  I have a feeling that Henry is very proud of the man that his son has become.” He certainly was.

***

Watching Henry take in the cortex the following morning was an interesting experience.  To see things through the eyes of someone who hasn’t been allowed to keep up with progress for the past fifteen years was eye-opening.  Not that Eo felt guilty for his part in that, no, but he could appreciate how novel everything looked to Henry.

“Wow. Half of this stuff didn’t even exist when I was practicing,” Henry said in awe as he looked around.

Cisco walked up to Henry with a grin. “I’d be happy to give you a crash course on all of it if you get out.” Cisco’s eyes widened immediately and he hastily corrected himself, “ _When_ you get out.  I’m…gonna shut up now.” He shifted back until he bumped against Hartley, who stifled a laugh in Cisco’s shoulder as he wrapped his arms around Cisco.

Henry chuckled at Cisco’s faux pas. “That’s okay, Cisco.”

Caitlin slowly approached Henry. “Doctor Allen?”

He turned to her with a smile, “Yes?”

“I’m feeling the need to give you a hug.”

Henry opened his arms to her. “Absolutely.  I will always accept a hug.”  He sighed as Caitlin wrapped her arms around him.

Eo and Joe stood across the cortex, watching the children take turns in greeting Henry and welcoming him into the Team. “Amazing, isn’t it?”

Joe turned toward Eo. “Oh?”

Eo nodded across the room at Henry. “Consider all that he has been through.  Losing his wife, his son, and then spending the last fifteen years in prison with hardened criminals, paying for a crime that he didn’t commit.  Yet none of that has diminished his good nature, or his positive outlook on life.  I can see where Barry gets his optimism from.”

“Yeah. Anyone else would be bitter and hardened by everything, but not Henry,” Joe said in agreement.  “Don’t get me wrong, Barry’s not all sunshine and roses, but he does get that ability to look at the good things in life from his father.”

Eo watched Henry speak with Barry by the suit. “Hopefully, he’ll never lose that outlook.” He didn’t bother specifying which ‘he’ he spoke of.  Both of those Allen men could stand to keep that positive outlook on life.

“Actually, you’re all heroes in my book,” Henry said to the room at large as he turned from Barry to look at everyone.  He focused on Eo last, and slowly approached him. “Especially you, Doctor Wells.”  Henry took Eo’s hand.  “ _Thank you_ for all that you’ve done for my son.”

“Well, your son is an extraordinary man, Doctor Allen,” Eo replied with a smile. “And I will do everything in my power to ensure Barry’s future.”

Henry gave his hand one final squeeze before turning to hug his son.  After a long moment, he turned to Joe with a sigh and held up his hands to be cuffed.  “It’s time, Joe.”

Joe shook his head.  “No.” He smiled at Henry, his hands firmly in his pockets.

“No?” Henry asked.

“No.” Joe reached up to clap his hand on Henry’s shoulder, to lead him from the room.

Henry hesitantly smiled. “Okay.”

Caitlin hugged Barry briefly. “You looked like you could use a hug, too.” 

“Thanks,” Barry said with a small smile.

Eo watched as Caitlin, Cisco, and Hartley left the cortex to give him and Barry a moment.  It was amazing how his children seemed to know when he wanted a word with Barry in private.  One day he’d ask them how they always knew. “Your father is an extraordinary man. You’re lucky to have him.”

Barry’s smile was bittersweet, but no less sincere as he shook Eo’s hand. “I’m lucky to have you, too.”

“And you always will, Barry, I promise you,” Eo said with a small smile.

~O~

A few days later, James and Axel arrived at Iron Heights.  While Axel found himself tossed in with the general population, James once more found himself locked in his own private cell.  It was late, after dinner, when the cameras in the cell suffered a glitch.  When the glitch was resolved a minute later, the guards found to their horror that James had hung himself.  They tried to save him, but by the time they could get into the cell, it was too late.  It appeared that James was so distraught over being caught again that he decided to kill himself.  Being his son, Axel was informed, and he didn’t take it very well.  He was found dead in his cell three days later, having hung himself in his grief.

Eo smiled in contentment as he watched the news broadcast on the apparent double suicide of the notorious Tricksters.  Nobody hurt his son and lived.  Nobody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Scene: Eo kills both James and Axel in such a way nobody knows it was him.
> 
> I’ve never tagged something for a trigger warning before, if this isn’t good enough, please let me know what else I can do. I hate the idea of triggering someone. I’ve got issues, and I understand how unpleasant it can be.


	44. Interlude II Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry's finally released from Iron Heights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually thought about not posting anything today, because I haven't actually finished this set yet. Almost, but not quite. I dislike the idea of not having a complete story-set before posting it, but my desire to not keep you waiting won out. School has taken away most of my free time and my creative energies, sadly. On the other hand, I now have a greater appreciation for Joe and Barry from a forensic and interviewing standpoint. Anyway, as of today I have three Parts of this written, and I'm working on the fourth. I'm writing another Interlude because there's another multi-week break between episodes, and I have some more plot points that I want to focus on instead of trying to work them in around an episode's plot. 
> 
> After this Interlude, I tentatively have at least two more episode sets planned before the end of the season. We're now firmly in the part of the season where the plot of episodes was almost completely focused on Harrison Wells being Eobard Thawne and Reverse Flash. Since that is _drastically_ different in this fic, quite a few of the final episodes are being dropped. I've thought long and hard for months now on what about the end of the season I'll be keeping because of what's changed in ICHtA, and I'm pretty firm right now on what's staying. I won't spoil it here, but I will say that I think you'll be pleased with how it goes.
> 
> Oh, and that's something else while I'm thinking about it. Thank you SO MUCH everyone who reads this. ICHtA reached 3000 hits a few days ago, and I'm kind of stunned. It also, with this chapter, is 50,000 words and that is by far the longest thing I've written and posted. I certainly never thought it'd reach this point when I started what I really intended to be a one-shot. So thank you.
> 
> So enough with my rambling, and onto the chapter! Enjoy.

While the news and officials were abuzz with the double suicide of Iron Heights inmates James Jesse and Axel Walker, another inmate was being quietly discharged. 

Eo wasn’t present, but he could just imagine the teary reunion that had occurred when Henry Allen was finally released from Iron Heights.  Barry would be unable to contain himself and would be hugging his father in a tight grip not unlike the one they had shared less than a week ago in the cortex.  Joe would stand to the side, patiently watching with that particularly pleased look in his eye.

Not that Eo could know for certain.  Even if he wanted to spy on the happy little family, they were currently standing in a CCTV blind spot.

No, instead Eo was trying on his new suit for the first time.  Cisco had finally deemed it fit enough for a test run.  Eo stared at his reflection in the mirror before him, admiring the clean black lines and the silver piping accenting it all.  Perhaps black wasn’t a good color for a hero, but Eobard never claimed to be one.

He pulled his cowl up over his hair and grinned at his reflection.  It felt good to be in a suit again.

His comm crackled and Eo turned it on as he left the small unused room he had changed in.  “I’m here.”

_“Good.  How’s the suit fit?  Not too loose or too tight?  You got good mobility with it?”_

Eo walked into the treadmill room and gave the three children on the other side of the observation glass a thumbs up. “Fits like a glove, Cisco.  Thank you.”

 _“Alright, Doctor Wells, I’m getting your biometric data from the suit, and everything looks good.”_ Caitlin said with a smile.

“Glad to hear it,” Eo said as he hopped up onto the treadmill. “Let’s see what this baby can do.”

_“Whenever you’re ready, Harrison.”_

Yes, one of the first things Eo would be doing as soon as the metahumans were moved would be to build his speed lab.  It was so restricting to run on the treadmill.  He quickly built up speed, and allowed himself to edge closer to 900mph to show the children how much faster he could run.  It still wasn’t anywhere near his fastest speed, but it would make them all agog at how much faster than Barry he was, and with so much little effort.  He would be taking his title back from Barry as fastest man alive. 

_“Holy crap!  Are you guys seeing this?”_

_“According to the readings in his suit, he isn’t straining at all.  This isn’t more taxing on his system than a light jog.”_

_“Just how fast can Harrison go?”_

Eo smirked as he saw the boxes around the room rattle when he surpassed 767mph.  Sure enough, Cisco’s voice came through the headset, softly in awe.

_“I don’t know, but he just broke Mach 1.”_

He tuned out their chatter after that, focusing on remaining between 840 and 880mph.  Eo knew from experience that he was little more than a blurry red electric cloud to them at the moment.  There was something freeing about running, about being anonymous and unseen.  He had missed this feeling.

_“Oh hey, Doctor Allen!”_

To call what Eo did upon hearing Cisco’s excited greeting a ‘stumble’, while not a fallacy, is far too undignified a word to use in conjunction with Eo.  So he doesn’t call it that.  He lost his footing on a quickly moving surface over the course of several steps, and quickly regained his footing.  A quick glance to the side showed Barry giving him a look of amused surprise, but nobody else saw his creative leg work.  He could work with this.

Eo hadn’t been aware that Barry would be bringing his father back by the Labs.  He slowed down until he came to a stop, and then exited the treadmill room. “Doctor Allen, what a pleasant surprise.  I hadn’t expected to see you again so soon.” He pulled back his cowl then ran his hand through his hair. 

“Yes, well, we were going to do lunch, and I thought it’d be nice if all of you guys joined us.” Henry said as he turned to smile at Eo, then gave him a look of surprise at seeing him in a suit. “Oh, you have one too?  You’re a, what’s the word?  Speedster?”

“Indeed I am,” Eo said with a nod. “I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that we wouldn’t want to intrude on a family meal.”

Henry shared a look with Barry before shaking his head. “Exactly.” Henry looked at the children, to include them in his statement as he said, “You guys are family as far as I’m concerned.  You’ve spent the past six months keeping my son safe.  Please, join us.”

Barry nodded in agreement. “Yeah, come on, guys.  It’s okay.”

Cisco grinned at Henry. “I, for one, am all for that.”

“If you’re sure, Doctor Allen,” Caitlin said.

“I’m sure, Caitlin, promise,” Henry reassured her.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment, just allow me to change and we can go.” Eo allowed himself to smirk as he sped out of the suit, changed, then went back to where he’d started without leaving the room.  Barry was now giving him another look of surprise, this one tinged with embarrassment if his reddened cheeks were anything to go by.  Eo could imagine what brought that on.  Perhaps now Barry would think twice before speed-changing into his suit in the middle of the cortex while Eo just happened to be in the room.

“Alright, let’s get this party started!” Cisco said with excitement.

Eo followed the children and Joe as they shepherded Henry from the room.  He would make sure to pull Henry aside for a moment to offer him a job with STAR Labs.  Though his license might be lapsed, he could still be a valuable font of medical knowledge once Caitlin got him up to speed. 

His family was expanding, and there was a large part of Eobard who wanted to keep it just to himself and the children.  However, it clearly made his children happy to have more people sharing the burden of secrecy, so Eo pushed that selfish, possessive part of himself down.  He could grant them this small thing, if it kept them happy.  After all, their happiness was all he wanted, no matter the cost.

***

Not much surprised Eobard any longer.  When one had a brain that could work faster than it took neurons to fire in anyone else’s brain, he could consider every possible possibility of a given situation before anyone else could blink.  He never thought that Henry would want to leave Barry’s side after he was released, but Henry surprised Eo. 

Now Eo was left with a Barry Allen who was inconsolable and listless.  Eo had finally sent him to his paramour for comfort.  As much as he hated to do it, Eobard could admit that he wasn’t exactly the best at being comforting.

Eo stood, arms crossed, as he watched everyone on the screens in front of him.  Cisco and Hartley were cuddled together while they watched a movie at Cisco’s apartment.  Caitlin was Skyping with Ronnie at her own home.  Joe was working late at the precinct.  Iris and Eddie were on a date at a quiet restaurant not far from Eddie’s apartment.  The only one that Eo didn’t have eyes on was Barry, and that was because he had yet to find where he and Snart spent time when they weren’t out in public on a date.  It was frustrating, not knowing where Barry was or how he was doing. 

That was another thing.  Eo had overheard Henry and Barry talking the previous night.  After dinner, they’d convened at Joe’s house for drinks and dessert.  Barry had taken Henry aside for a talk, where Henry had mentioned that he was leaving while he found his footing in the world.  Barry had mentioned that Len had asked him to move in, and he was considering it. 

_“How’s Lenny?”_

_“Oh, you know, still robbing banks and being a complete and utter pain in my ass.  You know he’d be here if—”_

_“If my little party wasn’t being held in a cop’s house?”_

_“Ha. Yeah. That. Um, about him.  He, uh…he asked me to move in with him…”_

_“I know.  He already asked me if I minded and I told him what he did with you was none of my business, please stop asking me for permission to do things involving my son, and to just ask you already.  I’m glad that he finally listened.”_

_“Wait, he asked you if he could ask me to move in with him?  And what do you mean… did he ask you if he could date me before he asked me out?!”_

_“Lenny’s from a different generation, son.  We did things differently back then.  It was only polite to ask a girl’s—a person’s—father before a man did anything.  Honestly, I would have thought Lenny was too young for that mindset, but he was partially raised by his grandfather, and so he absorbed some of that thinking from him, I believe.”_

_“Oh. Well, I’m thinking of saying yes.  I really care for him, Dad.”_

_“I’m glad you two have each other, son.  For what it’s worth, I think you should do it if it’s what you want.”_

_“Thanks.  So… how about we go to lunch tomorrow?  There’s this quiet café we like to go to on the other side of town.  They don’t bother us, and they make a mean raspberry pie.”_

_“I’d like that.  Don’t be too hard on him about him asking me, Barry.”_

_“No promises.”_

After that Eo had casually wandered into the kitchen to refresh his glass of scotch.  It couldn’t do anything to him, but he appreciated the taste; especially since it appeared that Joe broke out the good stuff for the occasion.  He had known that they were serious, but Eo hadn’t thought they were ‘move in together’ serious.  At least once they moved in together, Eo could sneak into their home and set up a new set of bugs to properly monitor Barry’s health and wellbeing.

“I’ve got to say: I didn’t expect you to come, Doctor Wells.”

Eo turned to face Joe in the doorway.  He gave the detective a smile. “We’re all happy that Doctor Allen is finally free, Joe.”

Joe gave him a penetrating look for a long moment before humming noncommittally and stepping forward to refill his own glass. “Is there anything you _can_ tell me about this ‘Len’ that Barry’s evidently dating?”

That wasn’t what Joe wanted to know, not all of it anyway, Eo thought.  He kept those thoughts to himself as he took a sip from his glass. “Not much, I’m afraid.  Barry has been surprisingly tight-lipped concerning his boyfriend.  He’s mentioned that Len is a little older than him, he has a sister, and he’s ‘a giant nerd’.  That really is about all I know.  The children have tried to get Barry to open up about Len, or even introduce him, but Barry keeps putting them off.”

“Has he?  That’s odd,” Joe said with a small frown, “he’s normally very eager to talk about whomever he’s dating.”

“Caitlin thought it odd as well.  I heard her giving Barry the third degree about how Len treats him not too long ago.  Barry swears that Len doesn’t mistreat him; he just wants them to be on more solid footing before he subjects Len to his friends.” Eo allowed his lips to twist, showing his own view on that.

If the look on Joe’s face is any indication, Joe’s of a similar mind. “I see.” Joe grew still for a few moments, and his eyes narrowed just the tiniest fraction.  Eo saw the moment Joe realized who Len had to be.  Joe knocked back the rest of his glass then poured another before giving Eo a piercing look. “You know who he is, don’t you?”

Eo raised his glass in a toast, his lips twisted in a sarcastic smile. “I really couldn’t say.  As I said, _Barry_ hasn’t told me anything about Len.  If I happened to have drawn some conclusions on my own from what he _has_ let slip, however…”

Joe set his glass down so he could rub at his forehead, his other hand braced on the counter next to him. “At least Eddie was a cop.” Joe sighed heavily before straightening. “Alright, let’s see how bad of a cop Barry thinks I am and see how long he thinks he can keep this from me.”

“Come now, Joe, I’m sure that Barry doesn’t mean it like that.” Eo sipped from his glass. “As with any child, he simply believes that he can pull one over on his parental figures.”

Joe pointed a knowing finger at Eo then took a drink from his glass. “I’m going to make sure the kids haven’t somehow managed to build a weapon of mass destruction out of my stereo while we’ve been in here.  Don’t spend the whole evening cooped up back here, Harrison.”

Eo gave Joe a small smile. “I promise, Joe, I’ll be out soon.  I just needed a breather from the energies of youth.”

Joe laughed. “Oh, that’s hilarious coming from you, Doctor Speedster.”

“Don’t let Cisco hear you calling me that; you might give him ideas,” Eo cautioned before he shrugged modestly, though he couldn’t quite stifle the proud grin. “Just because I’m now a speedster doesn’t negate the fact that I am also a fifty-one-year-old man surrounded by young people half his age.”

“Still,” Joe said. “Alright, wish me luck.”

Eo watched Joe leave as he took a sip from his glass.  It was good to have an ally in Joe when it came to the stain on humanity that Barry was insisting on dating.  Maybe Joe had finally given up that useless crusade against Eobard in favor of crusading against Leonard Snart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, now Joe knows. He really isn't a bad cop, despite what the show tries to say when convenient to the plot. Yes, that's another pet peeve of mine. I truly do love the show, but the writers set up these characters, or physics, early on in the show as one thing, then completely toss them out later on when they aren't convenient to the plot. It's frustrating from a continuity standpoint. Does Barry's clothing catch fire when he runs at full speed or not? Do papers and things move around because of the air displaced by his speed or not? Is Joe an amazingly gifted detective that notices everything about his kids or not? Are Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco geniuses or not? 
> 
> So yeah. I have issues with the show. Many of which I may or may not be addressing here. Hopefully better than the show handles them, in that I don't forget they exist.


	45. Interlude II Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard gives in to his stalking habit once more.

Eobard knew it wouldn’t be that easy to placate Joe.

On the screen in front of him, Eo watched as Joe tried once again to talk Barry around to his line of suspicion about Eobard.

***

“—telling you, there’s still something not right about him,” Joe said from where he leaned against Barry’s desk.

Barry, who was removing items from the board about his mom’s murder, rolled his eyes where Joe couldn’t see, but Eo’s camera could. “Well, we know he’s not the Man in Yellow, because that man’s in Iron Heights, where he’ll be staying for the rest of his life.  I really wish you’d let this go, Joe.  Face it: you were wrong about Doctor Wells being the Reverse Flash.  I feel bad that I even entertained the idea that Doctor Wells had anything but my wellbeing in mind.  He’s done nothing but help me since the coma.”

“ _Exactly_ , Barr.  He’s gone out of his way to help you.  Why?  Now it’s understandable, because you’re the Flash, but before that?  He dogged me for _weeks_ to let him take you from the hospital to STAR Labs.  He insisted that his lab could help you better than the hospital could.”

“And he ended up being right.”

“But he couldn’t have _known_ he’d be right.  There’s no way he knew before hooking you up to his own machines that your heart was beating too fast for the EKG to pick up.”

Barry half-turned to Joe, a newspaper article he’d just removed in his hands. “Joe, are you listening to yourself?  You think Doctor Wells is suspicious because he noticed something about me that the doctors didn’t.  He saved my life, and you want to, what, lock him away?” He shook his head as he turned back to dismantling the board.

Joe ran a hand through his hair in frustration.  “It’s very suspicious that after he was involved in a car accident that killed his girlfriend, Harrison Wells announced his new project, STAR Labs.”  When Barry looked like he was going to continue to ignore Joe, he added, “An accident that happened only a few weeks after your mom was murdered.”  When it looked like Barry was going to ignore him, he brought out the biggest piece of evidence he had that Harrison Wells was something other than he said.  “How about the weird fact that he just happened to make donations to the science sections of every school you’ve gone to since you came to live with me?  He created the scholarships that got you through college, _and_ is the sole reason you were able to get hired by the CCPD.”  Joe saw Barry still at that and pressed his point.  “He never donated to schools before then, and it was _only_ the schools that you were attending, or looking to attend.  Your seventh grade field trip was almost completely sponsored by a donation he made to your junior high school a few months before, and the science lab in your high school?  He insisted it be the best and funded that entire department.”

Barry bit his lip then shook his head, “That’s just a coincidence.”

“That’s what I’m _saying_ , Barr.  There’s a whole _lot_ of coincidences surrounding Harrison Wells; too many for this old cop to just ignore.  Maybe he’s not the Reverse Flash, but I’m telling you that there is something not right with that man.  He’s hiding something, I know it.”

Barry stared at the picture in his hands for a solid minute before shaking his head.  “No, you’re wrong.  Doctor Wells is a good man, Joe, and for whatever reason he’s taken me under his wing, even before all the Flash stuff.”

“I get it, Barry.  The man’s your hero.  Of course you don’t want to believe that he’s flawed.  But—”

“No, Joe,” Barry said with a shake of his head.  “I won’t hear anything else.  Let it go.  I don’t know why you’re so set on finding something wrong with Doctor Wells, but if you can’t show me some concrete proof that he’s done something, just drop it.”  Barry turned back to the board.  “Now, if you aren’t going to help me take this down, maybe you should just leave.”

Joe stared at Barry for a long moment before his shoulders slumped in defeat.  “Alright.”  He stepped up next to Barry and began helping Barry take down the board.

***

Eobard smiled as he watched the two men take down the board.  He was very pleased by Barry’s staunch defense of him, though equally disturbed by just how much digging Joe had done into him.  He hadn’t realized that his careful donations had been noticed.  Not that it mattered now, but in the future Eo would need to be more careful.

At least now he knew what Joe had on him: nothing but circumstantial evidence at best.  Maybe Eo should take some time to talk with Joe more.  If he could get the other man used to him, perhaps it would lessen his suspicions. 

“Gideon, keep a closer eye on Joe.  I want to know if he talks to any of the other children.”

“Yes, Doctor Wells.”

***

Three days later a pleasant surprise came to STAR Labs.

“What does a guy gotta do around here to get some pizza?”

Eo and the children turned around to find Ronnie and Martin smiling at them from the doorway of the cortex.

“Ronnie!  You didn’t say you were coming home,” Caitlin exclaimed as she got up and ran to throw herself into her fiancé’s arms.

Martin smiled indulgently at the young couple.  “We thought a pleasant surprise would make for a change of pace for you all.”

Eo smiled as he walked closer to the console, his hands in his pockets.  “Martin, Ronnie, as always we are very glad to see you.”

Cisco grinned around the lollypop he had in his mouth.  “Yo Ronnie, Professor Stein!  Gimme twenty minutes, and we’ll have all the pizza you can eat.”

Barry got up from the chair he’d been sitting in and bounced on his toes briefly.  “Call in our usual, Cisco?”

Cisco shot finger guns at Barry before reaching for his cell phone.  “You got it, Barr.”

It was Hartley that answered the questioning looks Ronnie and Martin were giving the pair.  “Barry likes to show off by getting our pizza from Coast City.”

“I get it from Coast City because they have _the best_ pizza in the country.  I should know; I’ve tried them all,” Barry said with a grin.

“At least change into the suit’s boots first so you don’t burn up your sneakers,” Cisco warned.

Barry nodded as he turned toward the alcove his suit was stored in.  “Right, good idea.  Be back in thirty.”  He quickly traded his sneakers for his Flash boots and left in a blur of golden lightning.

Ronnie frowned in confusion.  “If it takes twenty minutes for the order to be ready, why is he leaving so soon?”

Caitlin shared an amused with look with Cisco and Hartley.  “Because he’s probably going to spend the next fifteen minutes with his boyfriend.”

“They’ve gotten more serious since Barry revealed he was the Flash,” Hartley explained with a grimace.  “It means that Barry’s been dropping off the face of the Earth at random times to pay Len a visit.”

“Wait.  Barry told his boyfriend he’s the Flash?” Martin asked in disbelief before he turned to Eo.  “And you let him?”

Eo sighed in exasperation.  “I have found that it is unbelievably difficult to make Barry do anything that he doesn’t want to.  That includes keeping his identity a secret from his boyfriend.”

“Who we still haven’t met, by the way,” Cisco said pointedly.

Eo’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Cisco.  There had been something off about Cisco’s voice just then.  Was it…was it possible that Cisco had figured out who Barry was dating? 

Hartley rolled his eyes.  “Cisquito, if I didn’t know you so well I would think that you were jealous.”

“I know what you’re trying to do, and I won’t fall for it,” Cisco said before leaning over to kiss Hartley’s cheek. 

No, Cisco didn’t know.  Not that his children weren’t smart enough to figure it out, but they would have no reason to suspect Snart of being Len.  Eo casually pointed out, “I’m sure that Barry has a good reason for not introducing us to Len just yet.”  Like Len being a wanted criminal, for a start.

Ronnie looked at them in puzzlement from where he stood with his arms around Caitlin.  “Barry hasn’t introduced you guys yet?  Isn’t that strange?”  He looked at Caitlin.  “Didn’t you say that you guys got to meet his last girlfriend not too long after they started dating?”

Caitlin nodded.  She didn’t seem to notice that her hands were absently stroking his arms; she was just glad he was finally home.  “We did, and they’d only been dating a few weeks before Barry let us meet her.”

“Barry and Len have been together since just before we found you two,” Cisco added with a motion to Ronnie and Martin.

“So they’ve been together two months,” Ronnie concluded. 

Martin shook his head at the younger generation.  “If Barry wishes to keep his boyfriend to himself for a while, I don’t see that it is any of your business why he does so.”

“We worry about him, Professor Stein,” Caitlin answered.

“Barry’s like an overgrown puppy that everyone just can’t help dote on,” Hartley explained.

There was a whoosh and hands went down on piles of papers with a speed that spoke of long practice. 

Barry looked around the room, a stack of six pizzas in his arms.  “Who’s like a puppy?”

Cisco laughed as he got up to take the top three pizzas from Barry.  “You are, Barry.”

“I’m not a puppy,” Barry replied, though it had the long-suffering tone of someone used to making such a claim.  He moved to one of the side tables and sat down to start in on his pizzas.

Everyone had grabbed what they wanted and were seated when Barry next spoke.  Eo nearly choked at what Barry had to say, despite already knowing.

“So Len asked me to move in with him, and I said yes.  Who wants to help me move this weekend?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm fudging Barry's speed just a smidge. And by a smidge, I mean by a lot. 
> 
> *dons professor's hat and pulls out a map of the USA for illustration* 
> 
> By this point in the season, Barry's running at around 600mph, which means it SHOULD take him an hour to get to Star City, whenever he runs there. Now after careful hunting around, I found which US cities the DC cities are based off of and, despite the wide shots they use, Central City is basically Kansas City, Missouri, not Portland, Oregon. Coast City's analog in our world is San Diego. Over roads, San Diego's roughly 1600 miles away from KC, which means it'd take Barry two and a half hours to run there, one way. As any pizza he obtains will be stone cold by then, I fudged his run time/speed. I know in Season 2 he gets to Coast City for pizza in time for it to still be hot (though with wind sheer, I have no idea how. Comic book science, I suppose), but he's a lot faster in Season 2 than he is in Season 1. Normally I wouldn't be waving away the facts like this because I like my fic to be based in canon facts, but, well: pizza waits for no one.
> 
> So concludes today's lesson on Barry's speed.


	46. Interlude II Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Flash helps Barry move into his new home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this scene came to me in a dream, I kid you not. I spent the following week fleshing it out on the drive to and from school before actually writing it out. I love this scene. 
> 
> If you're following A Different Point of View, this isn't where Barry and Len have been hanging out when at Len's place. That's an apartment/safehouse. This is an actual home Len bought for them legally, even if the money used to buy it wasn't. I have pics for the house in the end notes.

Everybody met at Joe’s house Saturday morning.  ‘Everybody’ being Cisco, Hartley, Iris, Eddie, and Eobard.  Henry had said that he’d meet them at the house, and Barry had stayed the night at Joe’s one last time. 

Eo realized, as he stepped out of Cisco’s car, that he hasn’t actually met his ancestor yet.  Everything that he’d seen through his surveillance showed an upbeat, kind man with the disposition more suited to an overgrown puppy than a detective.  First in-person impressions weren’t much different.

“Doctor Wells, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Eddie said brightly as he held out his hand.

Eo smiled in response as he took the younger man’s hand.  “Likewise, Detective Thawne.”

“Please, call me Eddie.  You’ve done so much for Barry; you’re practically family.”

Eo’s smile broadened in amusement.  “Eddie.”  He turned his smile on Iris, who stood next to Eddie.  “Ms. West, always a pleasure.”

“Doctor Wells!  I’m surprised you came.”  Iris’ eyes widened slightly in mortification and she quickly added, “I mean, I just thought that…I mean that…”

Eo laughed even as he shook his head.  “I understand, Iris.  I’m not exactly built for manual labor.  I’m stronger than I look, I promise.”

Barry answering the door saved Iris from trying to reply to that.  Joe had insisted that Barry spend the night, stating that at least Barry would be on time for once.  Eo was certain that Barry would be late to his own funeral.  As a result, not only did Barry answer the door, but he looked like he’d been awake for a while.

“Dude!  You’re awake,” Cisco exclaimed as he pulled Barry into a hug.

Barry laughed as he pulled away.  “I’m capable of getting up early, Cisco.  Come on in,” he said as he stepped back to let everyone into the house.

“Don’t let him fool you guys; I had to practically drag him out of bed an hour ago, and he only became polysyllabic about fifteen minutes before you arrived,” Joe called out as he came from the kitchen.

“Lies!” Barry countered with another laugh.

“Now, Barry, Joe is a man of the law,” Eo began teasingly, “I’m sure that he wouldn’t lie about something so trivial.”

Joe grinned as he pointed at Eo, though he looked at Barry as he said, “See?  Doctor Wells knows what’s what.  You should listen to him.”

“So, Barry, we finally get to meet this mysterious ‘Len’.” Iris began with a smile, but faltered when Barry shook his head.

Of course Eo had expected they wouldn’t get to ‘meet’ Len.  Not with two detectives with them.

“Len had to leave town yesterday for work,” Barry explained as he flashed Eo a quick look.  To tell him not to say anything contrary, Eo expected.

Predictably Joe asked, “And what does Len do for a living?  You’ve never said.”  The detective crossed his arms as he stared at Barry.

“Oh, I haven’t?” Barry reached up to rub the back of his neck.  “He’s in acquisitions for an antique dealer.”  He flushed then looked alarmed at Eo, Joe, and Cisco’s synchronous snorts of disbelief. 

For his part, Cisco flashed both Eo and Joe a wide-eyed look of disbelief.  He quickly shook it to respond.  “Really, Barr, wow.  He sounds like a keeper,” Cisco said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.  He grunted when Hartley elbowed him.  “I mean, hey, at least he’s responsible.  Wait.  How much older than you _is_ Len?”

“Len’s, uh, he’s great, yeah,” Barry said before looking cagey again.  “He’s…older.  He was really sorry that he wouldn’t get to help move me in.”

“Yeah, I bet he was,” Joe snarked.

Barry, clearly uncomfortable with the thought that Joe might know something, clapped his hands and said, “So I rented a moving van, we just need to load it and unload it at the house.”

“Well, lets get started!” Eddie smiled brightly, and Eo was once again amazed that this was his ancestor.  Eo really was reminded of nothing more than an over grown puppy, even more than Barry typically did.

It took all of them helping in an assembly line to pack the truck, even with Barry using his speed to stack the boxes once they were in the truck—and, boy, hadn’t _that_ been a shock for Eddie. _“You’re the Flash!?  And I’m the last to know!?  What else am I the last to know?_ —but they eventually got everything out of Joe's house and into the truck.  Cisco drove the truck once it was packed, with Hartley and Barry riding with him.  Iris, Eddie, and Eo followed with Joe in his car.  Thirty minutes later they arrived at a white ranch house.  It had a wide front porch, a modest lawn, and an attached two car garage.

“Len has a nice home,” Eo commented as he stepped out of Joe’s car.

“Doesn’t he?” Joe said drily.

Barry walked up to the door to unlock it, but before he could reach it the door opened.  “Hey Dad!”

Henry smiled broadly as he stepped out to hug Barry.  “Hey, Slugger!  I was wondering if you guys would ever get here.”  He looked up as Joe, Eo, and the rest walked up and he reached out to shake Joe and Eo’s hands.  “Thanks for helping move my boy.”

“Hey, he’s my son, too.  Of course I’m gonna help move him,” Joe pointed out.  He pointed to the house.  “So this is where you’re staying?”

Henry nodded, his arm around Barry’s shoulders.  “I’ve known Len for years and when I got out he said I could stay with him as long as I needed.”

“That was kind of him,” Eo said.  While it was a little surprising to learn that Henry knew Snart—obviously in the same cell block, perhaps even cellmates?—it wasn’t surprising that if Snart knew Barry’s father, he’d offer to let the man stay with him.  _The better to win over the father of a boyfriend half his age_ , Eo thought to himself.

Eddie looked at Henry in confusion.  “Forgive me, but you’ve been in prison for the last fifteen years.  How did you meet Len?”

Henry and Barry shared a look before Barry nodded.  Only after getting permission from Barry did Henry offer, “I met Len in Iron Heights.  He’s a good kid, just doesn’t always make the best life choices.  I’m glad he and Barry found each other.”

Eddie didn’t seem to know what to say to that.  Next to him, Iris offered, “Well, I’m glad that Barry has Len, too.  I haven’t seen him this happy in years.”

“Yeah, man, Len’s good for you,” Cisco agreed.  “So what if Len’s a felon?”

Barry’s smile wobbled a bit before stabilizing.  “Thanks, guys.”

Hartley clapped his hands.  “So are we going to stand around all day, or are we unpacking Barry?”

“Right,” Henry gave Barry’s shoulders a squeeze before letting him go.  “There’s space in the living room cleared for the boxes.  Let me show you before we unload.”

Henry led everyone into the house and they all looked around the well-kept home in awe.  The front door was in a small foyer. To the right was the dining room, and straight ahead was the living room, where Henry led them.  There were several plush chairs as well as a love seat and a wide couch fanned out around a central fireplace.  Everything was in muted shades of blue and grey.  The walls had several pieces of famous art on them, one of which drew Cisco’s attention.

“Dude really likes Van Gogh, huh?  I love Starry Night.”  Cisco was commenting on the fact that not only was the aforementioned Starry Night one of the painting on the wall, but there was also Van Gogh’s Irises, and The Church at Auvers along the living room walls.  Other paintings included Friedrich’s The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, Monet’s The Water Lily Pond, and Katushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

“Everyone likes Starry Night, Cisquito,” Hartley said as he stepped up beside Cisco to study said painting.

Joe leaned in to Eo to ask softly, “Those aren’t reprints, are they?”

Eo’s lip twitched as he took in the famous paintings along the walls of the living room.  “No, they probably aren’t.”  He stepped over to look at The Church at Auvers.  “You really must admire his skill, Detective.  This painting is supposed to be in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.”

Henry smiled beatifically, his hands tucked inside the pockets of his jeans.  “Len has an eye for art.  That isn’t a crime.”

Eddie looked over at Joe’s scoff.  “Joe?”  He sighed then stepped over to the cluster of older men.  “Look, I know you weren’t happy about me and Iris, but could you at least pretend to be happy for Barry and Len?  I agree with Iris: Barry has been more upbeat and happier than I’ve ever seen him since he and Len got together.”

Joe’s face twisted into a grimace.  “I…can’t argue with you there.  Barry’s smiled more in the last few months than he has since before the coma.”

“See?  Just be happy for him, Joe,” Eddie gently pushed.

Eo wondered if the younger detective would be so defensive of Len if he knew exactly who Len was.  He glanced over and saw the Cisco looking around the room with renewed awe.  His phone was in his hand and Eo would bet money that Cisco had just looked up a few of the paintings.  If even half of those paintings were the real deal, it spoke well of the level of skill Snart possessed.  That also answered the question of whether or not Cisco knew about Snart.

“Alright,” Barry said as he came out of the kitchen.  “Len cooked lunch and left it in the fridge before he left.  I just put the ribs in the oven, and the corn and beans in pots on the stove, and they should be ready by the time we finish.”

Hartley gave Barry an envious look.  “ _And_ he cooks?”

“Hey, I cook!” Cisco exclaimed defensively.

The look Hartley leveled at Cisco was extremely condescending.  “I love you, Cisquito, but what you do is _not_ cooking.”

Barry laughed at the pair.  “Yeah, Len cooks.  He trusts me to reheat things, but that’s about it.  I’m generally not allowed in the kitchen otherwise.”

“Smart move,” Joe laughed before nodding toward the door.  “Alright, lets get this over with.”

With everyone once again forming an assembly line, it didn’t take long to unpack the boxes from the truck.  An hour later everyone was sitting around the dining room table digging into the pile of ribs on a platter in the middle of the table.  Len had also made pasta and potato salads, baked beans, and grilled corn on the cob to go with the ribs.

Eo reluctantly admitted that they were pretty good.  Snart could cook, who would have thought?  He was hesitant to get more than one serving, but then Barry urged him on.

“No, really, Doctor Wells, please eat more if you’re still hungry.  And if you’re anything like me, I know you probably are.  Len knew to make enough for two speedsters plus a few regular people.  He made us each our own pan of ribs; there are another two pans of ribs keeping warm in the oven,” Barry reassured Eo.  “There’s also another large bowl of everything else in the fridge. 

Eo raised an eyebrow at all of the food, but finally let himself relax enough to enjoy the food and eat his fill.  True to his word, Barry refilled the rib platter twice and the sides once before everyone was finished eating.  Overall, it was a pleasant meal with family.  Eo wished that Caitlin could have joined them, but she and Ronnie had already had plans that couldn’t be rescheduled.  Eo knew there would be plenty of time in the future for her to join them in family dinners.  He liked this atmosphere enough that Eo was considering insisting that these become a regular thing, perhaps once a week.  Eo sat back, content to watch everyone enjoy the meal.

“Oh man, I am stuffed.  Who knew Captain Cold could cook?” As soon as the words were out, Cisco clamped his hand over his mouth, his eyes wide in horror.

 _Of course Cisco had to ruin it_ , Eo thought with a sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some upkeep notes: I haven't actually finished the next, last, part of Interlude II. School has taken most of my energy, and for some reason I'm blocked on the final scene. I'll try to have it out by next week, but no promises. I am so sorry to possibly leave you guys on a cliff hanger like this, but I'm a dramatic son of a bitch. I liked the thought of ending the chapter there, and I honestly thought I'd be able to pop out the following chapter quickly. I did finish the scene quickly, but the scene after that is giving me issues. I know I've been trying for longer chapters, but I might end up splitting the next chapter in half just to give you the end of this scene next week. We'll see how it goes. 
> 
> Here are the pics of the house. The first is of the exterior of the house, the other two the blueprints for the interior, because I actually care about that level of detail.
> 
> [](http://tinypic.com?ref=6xtdex)  
> The garage doors are actually to the right side. Those two windows on the far right are in the garage.
> 
> [](http://tinypic.com?ref=2afn57c)  
> The front bedroom (bedroom 2) on the left is the spare bedroom that Henry's been staying in. The back bedroom (bedroom 3) on the left is Lisa's bedroom, because she will always have a space in any home Len lives in. Barry and Len's bedroom is, of course, the master bedroom behind the garage.
> 
> [](http://tinypic.com?ref=1442u5t)  
> This office space above the garage is Len's office. Barry isn't allowed in there. For obvious reasons.


	47. Interlude II Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fallout from Cisco's reveal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a short one because I ended up cutting the chapter as I'd written it in half, due to deciding that the second half needed more work before being posted, but this half was good to go. Also, I couldn't just keep you guys hanging forever, I love you guys too much.
> 
> Because I care so much about details like this, here is how they're arranged around the table, since I'm not sure it's clear enough in my description of the scene:
> 
> ____IW - Ed - JW  
> BA-------------HA  
> ____CR - HR - Eo
> 
> Enjoy!

Around the table, everyone except for Eddie and Barry were doing some version of facepalming or otherwise cringing.  Barry, for his part, looked at them wide-eyed and like he was considering bolting.  Eddie, meanwhile, looked around at everyone in confusion, then disbelief.  “Am I seriously the last to know about this?”

Barry scooted his chair back, but remained seated as he realized that nobody but Eddie looked surprised by Cisco’s unintentional revelation.  “You… guys already knew?”

Everyone looked around the table in surprise.  Finally, Joe started with, “I’m a cop, Barr, and I raised you.  I’d have to be bad at both to not realize you were dating Leonard Snart.”

“I figured it out a few weeks ago,” Cisco said defensively.

“And then he told me.”  Hartley’s hand had creeped into Cisco’s and he gave the other man’s hand a squeeze.

Iris shrugged.  “I stumbled across you and Len having lunch at an outdoor café while I was following a lead one day.”

Barry’s head fell into his hands, so he didn’t see everyone else giving Eo curious looks.  Eo finally shrugged and said, “I figured it out when Barry first told me and Caitlin.”  To Eddie he said, “I don’t think Caitlin knows, if it’s any consolation.”

“Oh no, she knows.  That’s why she was so concerned about Barry’s safety a few weeks ago.”  Cisco shrugged when everyone turned to him, then looked over at Barry.  “Sorry, Barr, but you’re surrounded by cops, geniuses, and an investigative reporter.  You couldn’t have seriously thought that you’d actually managed to keep it a secret for long.”

Barry finally lifted his head with a sigh.  “Actually, yeah, I was hoping.”  He looked around the table.  “So you guys really are okay with it?  That I’m dating Leonard Snart?”

“I wouldn’t say that I’m _okay_ with it,” Joe said with a grimace before continuing, “but we’ve all seen how happy he makes you.  That accounts for a lot in my book.”

“At least he doesn’t have an active warrant out,” Cisco pointed out.

Eddie frowned at Cisco.  “How do you know that?”

Hartley answered for Cisco, who was squirming uncomfortably.  “After Cisco figured it out, we might have done some in-depth researching.”

“And I might have contacted Felicity,” Cisco added, though he quailed at the looks he received from both Joe and Eddie.

Barry whined to himself, " _Felicity_ knows?"  

Iris' eyebrows shot up as she looked from Barry to Cisco.  "Felicity.  Like Oliver Queen's girlfriend Felicity?"

Cisco grimaced.  "Yeah, her.  She's the best hacker we know."

Eddie glanced over at Joe.  "They know that we can't be hearing this, right?"

Joe shrugged noncommittally. 

Barry sat up a little straighter after a minute.  “What… what did she do, Cisco?”

Cisco reached for his soda and took a nervous drink before replying, “You mean aside from muttering about heroes dating their villains?”

Hartley once more spoke up for Cisco, though only after sparing a glance at the two detectives at the table.  “She took care of his record.”

Eddie leaned forward as he stared at the pair across the table.  “When you say she ‘took care of his record’, you mean…?”

Joe, who was well aware of what Felicity was capable of, groaned.  His head now firmly in his hand, he answered for them, “She wiped his record.”  He looked across the table at Cisco, sitting on Barry’s right.  “I’m right, aren’t I?  She wiped his record, didn’t she?”

Cisco squirmed in his seat for a moment before he found his resolve and sat up straight.  “Yes, she did.”  He turned to Barry.  “I still wouldn’t flaunt it by having him come by the precinct, but if he gets grabbed by the cops, there’s no longer a record of him in their databases.”

“But she couldn’t get to his paper files.  Those still exist,” Hartley warned.

Eddie looked at Cisco and Hartley in disbelief before turning to look at Joe next to him.  “Seriously, they  _do_ know that we can’t be hearing this?”

Joe just shook his head, a look of long suffering firmly in place.  “You get used to it.”

Barry looked overwhelmed.  “You guys did this for Len?”

“No, we did this for _you_ , Barry,” Cisco corrected gently.  “I don’t understand how you can date someone who’s done… what he’s done,” Cisco was, of course, referring to Len’s torture of Dante, “but you wouldn’t care about someone if there wasn’t something redeemable about them, so… yeah.”

“Thank you.”  Barry looked close to tears as he reached over to give Cisco’s hand a squeeze.

Eo bit back a sigh as he poked at the cole slaw on his plate.  This was more serious than just an infatuation with a _bad boy_.  He would need to rethink his plans to account for this unforeseen development.  He could grudgingly admit that perhaps the newspaper article was correct and having Snart on their side was more of a help than a hindrance. 

That didn’t mean he had to accept it with good grace—or stars forbid, _like_ it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ends Interlude II, and finally what I have written. With my school schedule the way it is, I'm not sure when I'll post an update, and I'm very sorry about that. I personally hate WiPs that take forever to update, and I never intended to leave you with one when I started this crazy train. 
> 
> However, it's my hope that with Thanksgiving break in a couple of weeks that I'll have time and energy to pop out the next set of this. I have the rest of the season roughly plotted out, and I think it should be around 8 more chapters after this, maybe 9; two more episodes worth, since so much of the end of the season can and has to be tossed out due to Eobard not trying to murder everyone. Well, not trying to murder Team Flash, I should say. He'll still murder anyone who so much as looks at his kids crossways.
> 
> This isn't goodbye, I swear, but I just wanted to thank everyone for reading this. You guys rock.


End file.
